New Groundbreaking Endometriosis Staging System Presented is 1st to Predict Fertility- First Anouncement

BREAKING NEWS

In a docinthemachine exclusive first I am excited to share with you a new endometriosis scoring staging system that is the first ever to predict a patients chance of getting pregnant without IVF.

The EFI or endometriosis fertility index was just presented by Dr David Adamson, a fertility specialist at the 38th annual Global Congress on Gynecologic Minimally Invasive Surgery– the annual meeting of the AAGL in Florida.  As a fertility specialist and surgeon myself it was starred on my agenda not to miss as a highlight of the entire congress.

Why Its Important: Every staging system up to now were made by committee trying to guess what would be an important factor– but none have ever directly predicted a patient’s chance of pregnancy– they main thing they need to know. This study was mathematically devised and DOES the allow a patient to know her direct chance of having a baby after surgery!!!

In this post I’ll review his findings and share the scoring forms and data.  My next post will be an exclusive  podcast interview I just did with the author of the importance of this major breakthrough. The paper is being released today as “in press” in the journal “Fertility and Sterility” of the ASRM (here’s the link) — but you’ll need a membership to access it.  I’ll post the final pubmed links when it comes out in print.

Background- What’s endometriosis? Endometriosis is a devastating disease where the cells that normally line the uterus and grow each month in preparation for a baby grow abnormally outside the uterus on it surface or on the tubes ovaries or other internal organs.  These cells bleed cyclically each month internally an cause inflammation resulting in pain, infertility , and damage to other organs.  It affects 5% of the population who have no symptoms but up to 25-33% of women with infertility or pelvic pain.  A valuable resource is the endometriosis association who I work with frequently.

Lead Author–is my friend collegue and mentor from a distance Dr David Adamson.  He’s and ob gyn fertilit specialist who is on the faculty of both UCSF and Stanford and who specializes in both fertility and reproductive surgery — he’s served as president of both our fertility society ASRM and our surgical society AAGL.

The Results– Predicting Fertility:  Chances of pregnancy by Stage