Endometriosis and Stem Cell Therapy

Endometriosis is a condition in which there is the abnormal growth of cells that are like endometrial cells, but in a different part of the body, outside the uterus. It can also be explained as a disease in which the inner lining of the uterus is found outside of the uterus. This mostly affects the ovaries, oviducts, posterior abdominal wall, and the tissues that line the pelvis. These tissues would act like the endometrial tissues, especially during the menstrual cycle. They would become thicker, break down, shed and bleed, just like the endometrial tissues in the uterus. The tissues that are shed would have no way to leave the body, so they become trapped, and could cause some irritation to the surrounding organs. In some cases, they might even form scar tissues and adhesion, which might lead to complications such as obstruction and so on. Endometriosis is usually accompanied by a lot of pain when the affected woman is menstruating. They might also experience dyspareunia; pain during sex. There have been reports of urinary and gastrointestinal complications. This disease could be unbearable, as it causes a lot of discomforts. It can lead also lead to infertility.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Endometriosis?

The most common symptom of endometriosis is the pain, which occurs mostly during menstrual periods. Although some women do have pains during their menstrual period, the pain associated with endometriosis is a lot worse than that. Women that are affected by this disease might have to be hospitalized in some cases. Below are some of the signs and symptoms associated with this disease;

1. Pain in the pelvis: Pain is the most common symptom of this disease, and it occurs in about 70% of women during menstruation. This can be attributed to the endometrium-like tissues that exist outside the uterus, and are undergoing the same physiological changes as the endometrial tissues in the uterus. The amount of pain a woman feels is proportional to the stage of the disease. It’s from stage 1 to 4. While some women may feel little pain, some would have to be placed on analgesic throughout the cause of the period. Below are some of the pain that might occur in the pelvis
2. Pain during menstruation: This basically means the pain the affected women experience when they are menstruating. They might also some pain in the lower part of their back
3. Pain during sex: This can also be referred to as dyspareunia. Some percentage of women that have this condition do experience pain when they are having sex.
4. Pain associated with the urinary system: Some patients do present with pains when they’re urinating. In addition, some tend to urinate more.

The endometrium-like tissues found outside the uterus undergoes the same process as the tissues in the endometrium. They become thick, break down, shed and bleed, without any outlet for the blood and shed materials to leave the body. This leads to the accumulation of blood in this parts and could lead to irritation and adhesion. This is also a huge source of pain in affected patients. However, the extent of this pain is proportional to the extent of the disease.

2. Menorrhagia: Some women do experience a heavy loss of blood when they’re menstruating. This might not happen every time they menstruate, but it could be quite frequent. In addition to this, some women do experience bleeding in between their menstrual periods.
3. Infertility: According to statistics, about one-third of women affected by endometriosis do have problems with fertility. There have been many theories about how infertility develops in people affected by this disease. There is a hypothesis that infertility in the early stages, is due to inflammatory reactions, while adhesions, irritation and other endometriosis complications could be responsible for the later stage of the disease.
4. Other symptoms of endometriosis: There are other symptoms of this disease that affects other systems of the body. Some of these symptoms are tiredness, constipation. In addition, some cancer diseases have been linked to Some of them are ovarian and endometrial cancer.

What Are the Risk Factors For Endometriosis?

There are some factors that increase the risk and contributes to the development of endometriosis. Genetics and environmental factors have been implicated as factors that could increase the chances of having this disease.

1. Genetics: People who have relatives that have suffered from the disease, are prone to having this disease. The chances of having this disease are higher in women who have a direct sibling that has the disease. According to statistics, they are six times more likely to have endometriosis. This disease has been attributed to a change in some genomes.
2. Environmental factors: There are some factors that also influence the development of endometriosis, apart from genetics. Some of the factors that influence the development of the disease are
3. When the female has not given birth yet
4. Exposure to estrogen for a long time. This occurs when a woman has a late menopause or an early menarche.
5. Blockage of the menstrual flow: This could be as a result of adhesions.
6. Low body weight: The chances of having endometriosis is higher when a woman has a low body mass index. The body mass index is divided into 3 main parts. These are low body mass index, normal body mass index, overweight and obese. People that belong to the low body mass index must have a body mass index that is less than 18.

How Is Endometriosis Currently Treated?

The most common treatment for endometriosis is usually surgery or medications. The choice depends on the patient and her doctor.

1. Medication: Physicians usually prescribe NSAIDs and other pain relievers.
2. Hormone therapy: Hormonal contraceptives, and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, progestin and danazol could all be administered.

Stem Cell Therapy of Endometriosis

Endometriosis was recently identified as a stem cell disease. It has been observed that the endometrial cells that grow outside of the endometrium, develop from ectopic endometrial stem cell progenitors. Research is ongoing to fully understand how this occurs, and the possible ways to fully explore into the potentials of stem cell therapy of endometriosis.

References                                    

Becker, C. (2015). Diagnosis and management of endometriosis. Prescriber, 26(20), pp.17-21.

FUKUDA, H. and MUKAI, H. (2010). Cutaneous endometriosis in the umbilical region: The usefulness of CD10 in identifying the interstitium of ectopic endometriosis. The Journal of Dermatology, 37(6), pp.545-549.

Hendarto, H. (2016). Thinking Out Loud On Endometriosis And Stem Cell Relationship. Journal of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, 2(1), pp.27-28.

Jacobson, T. (2011). Potential cures for endometriosis. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1221(1), pp.70-74.