Objective: To describe our diagnostic and therapeutic experience of patients with urinary tract endometriosis.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 22 cases of urinary tract endometriosis with histopathological results from 2001 to 2007.
Results: The mean patient age was 36.0 years. Of the 22 patients, 4 had bladder involvement and 18 ureteral involvement. In those with bladder endometriosis, the diagnosis was made by cystoscopy and biopsy in 4 patients. The treatments consisted of partial cystectomy in 3 patients and transurethral resection of the bladder in 1 patient. One of the patients who underwent transurethral resection of the bladder experienced 1 relapse. The relapse was treated with partial cystectomy. In the patients with ureteral endometriosis, the diagnosis was mainly established by ultrasound (18 cases), intravenous urography (11 cases), retrograde pyelography (7 cases), CT (14 cases) and MRI (5 cases). The treatments consisted of ureterolysis in 1 patient,ureteroneocystostomy in 4, and ureteral resection and end-to-end anastomosis in 13 of them. All the patients pathologic results were of endometriosis.
Conclusion: Urinary tract endometriosis is an uncommon disease. Partial cystectomy should be considered as the therapeutic option for bladder endometriosis . For cases of ureteral endometriosis, the first technique depends on the location, extent and depth of the lesion.