While Endometriosis Adhesions Don’t Appear on Scans, They Still Cause Big Problems

While you can’t see endometriosis adhesions from a scan, they can still cause big problems.

Patients usually describe having a tugging sensation or a dull, aching pain. Others, though, have no symptoms at all.

According to Latasha N. Murphy, M.D., FACOG, board-certified gynecologist and surgeon in The Gynecology Center at Mercy, endometriosis adhesions don’t tend to resolve on their own.

It isn’t age that causes the problem, it’s blood. Murphy said she sees patients who have adhesions at ages anywhere from 14 to 65.

“In endometriosis, what ends up happening is there’s the uterine lining tissue found on the outside of the uterus. In most cases, the pelvis is not very excited about that tissue being there. So, it creates a lot of inflammation,” Dr. Murphy said. “Sometimes, that inflammation can have bleeding… and that causes sort of a stickiness or a banding of some structures together, like the bowel, to the uterus or the ovaries [or] to the side wall of the pelvis. It just gets stuck there because of the fluid and inflammation.”

Dr. Murphy added that it could cause problems for women who are trying to conceive, but going in and clearing up the reproductive structure can be very helpful.

View Mercy gynecologist and surgeon Dr. Latasha Murphy’s interview regarding endometriosis adhesions.