Endometriosis: Novel Models, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Endometriosis remains a cause of significant morbidity in reproductive-aged women resulting in pelvic pain, pelvic masses, and infertility. Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside of their normal intrauterine location, most commonly in the dependent portions of the pelvis. Endometriosis is treated with medical therapies, surgery or both. The medical therapies include oral contraceptive pills, progestins, gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues, and danazol. All of these medical therapies induce a hormonal steady state that results in an environment not conducive to the growth of endometriosis. Surgical therapies for endometriosis-associated pain include the removal of endometriotic implants and adhesions with restoration of normal anatomy. Laparoscopy is an effective surgical approach with the goal of excising visible endometriosis. Since endometriosis is a chronic condition, it is not uncommon for recurrences to occur. While endometriosis remains an enigmatic disease, the introduction of new pharmacologic agents and newer endoscopic methods of surgical treatment has facilitated and improved the overall management of this disease. This special issue contains some papers that refer to molecular and cellular mechanisms of endometriosis phys-iopathology and some papers that refer to biomarker development for improved early diagnosis and risk of disease, while the other papers refer minimally to invasive treatment for endometriosis and new medical therapies. Finally, there are some manuscripts about prevention of endometriosis and novel models in endometriosis research. In the paper entitled " ABO and Rhesus Blood Groups and Risk of Endometriosis in a French Caucasian Population of 633 Patients Living in the Same Geographic Area, " B. Borghese et al. found that Rh-negative women have a higher risk of endometriosis; ABO blood group does not influence the risk of endometriosis. In the paper entitled " Are Mood and Anxiety Disorders and Alexithymia Associated with Endometriosis? A Preliminary Study, " G. Cavaggioni et al. found that some psychopathological aspects, such as psychoemotional distress and alexithymia, are more frequent in women with endometriosis and might amplify pain symptoms in these patients. In the paper entitled " Antiangiogenesis Therapy of Endo-metriosis Using PAMAM as a Gene Vector in a Noninvasive Animal Model, " N. Wang et al. found that endostatin-loaded PAMAM inhibits the development of endometriosis through an antiangiogenic mechanism and can be observed through the noninvasive endometriosis mode. In the paper entitled " Looking for Celiac Disease in Italian Women with Endometriosis: A Case Control Study, " L. Santoro et al evidenced that, in …