Patients with adenomyosis are more likely to have deep endometriosis

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze the association between adenomyosis diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and endometriosis. This is a prospective study of consecutive patients. One hundred fifty-two patients with histologically confirmed endometriosis. Patients were submitted to MRI, then divided into Group A (with adenomyosis) and Group B (without adenomyosis). Thickness of the junctional zone and the presence of intramyometrial cysts were the principal criteria for diagnosis of adenomyosis. MRI data were correlated with clinical status, staging, sites affected, and histological classification of endometriosis. The prevalence of adenomyosis in endometriosis patients was 42.76 %. Patients with endometriosis and adenomyosis were more likely than those without adenomyosis to report severe or incapacitating dysmenorrhea (61.53 % in Group A; 44.83 % in Group B; p = 0.041) and deep dyspareunia (64.61 % in Group A; 41.38 % in Group B; p = 0.005), to have stage IV endometriosis (50.77 % in Group A; 33.34 % in Group B; p = 0.03), to have endometriosis of the rectosigmoid (49.23 % in Group A; 32.18 % in Group B; p = 0.033), and to have undifferentiated or mixed histological types of endometriosis (52.31 % in Group A; 34.48 % in Group B; p = 0.028). A correlation was found between adenomyosis and deep endometriosis with poorer prognosis, particularly endometriosis of the rectosigmoid.