What is abdominal wall endometriosis?

  As the name implies, the lesions of abdominal wall endometriosis are located in the abdominal wall and often present as enlarged and painful nodules during menstruation, which can be easily palpated by the patient herself when the lesions are obvious. Perhaps because of the increased number of cesarean deliveries, this particular type of endometriosis has become increasingly common, with the incidence increasing from 0.02/100 to 0.04/100 over the last two decades, a 1-fold increase.  The vast majority of lesions are located at the ends of the caesarean section abdominal incision scar, with the transverse incision mostly on the right side and the longitudinal incision mostly at the lower end, while a few cases occur at the scar sites of other gynecological surgeries such as hysterectomy, ovarian cysts, tubal sterilization, etc. The lesion appears as a slowly increasing solid, hard mass, usually 3 cm in size, rarely more than 5 cm. If the growth is too fast or the mass is too large, other diseases or malignant changes should be considered.  The interval between surgery and the discovery of the lump is usually within 4 years, with an average of 2 years, and there are cases where the lump develops only after more than 10 years. The size of the lump grows and decreases with the onset of menstruation, and most of them are associated with cyclic pain that gradually worsens. Women with this disease tend to be in their 30’s and it is rare to see them over 40 years of age. Also, the chance of concurrent pelvic endometriosis is higher than normal, so having dysmenorrhea or pain in other parts of the menstrual cycle is a good reason to seek medical attention.  Surgical excision is preferred for abdominal wall endometriosis: because it responds poorly to medications and recurs almost 100% of the time after discontinuation, and the chance of malignancy increases with prolonged disease duration. In addition, the superficial location of the lesion affects the aesthetics on the one hand and the frequent touching of the mass on the other hand, which easily brings adverse psychological stimulation to the patient and even affects the patient’s quality of life. Surgery is usually performed just after menstruation, when the lesion nodules are more obvious, which facilitates thorough surgical excision and is less likely to recur after surgery.  Early detection of medium-sized intra-abdominal foci generally rarely invade the peritoneum, so local excision will not enter the abdominal cavity, is a small risk and fast recovery of minor surgery, but if not timely consultation, the lesion is larger, it is possible to enter the abdominal cavity, even with the help of artificial patch repair for the removal of large lesions and the lack of abdominal wall, on the basis of increased trauma, may not be more thorough than when cutting small masses, so it is stressed that there is a disease early medical Therefore, it is better to emphasize early medical treatment.