What is endometriosis? Endometriosis occurs when the endometrial tissue that has the ability to grow is found in a part of the uterine cavity other than the mucous membrane and the myometrium. This simply means that the endometrium has grown in other parts of the body. Ectopic endometriosis can invade any part of the body, most often in the pelvic cavity, with the ovaries and the uterosacral ligament being the most common, followed by the uterus, the rectal uterine sulcus, the visceral peritoneum, the vagina, and the vaginal rectal septum. Although endometriosis is a benign lesion, it has the ability of local implantation, infiltrative growth and distant metastasis similar to malignant tumors. The most common symptoms of endometriosis are dysmenorrhea, lower abdominal pain, abnormal menstruation, infertility and discomfort during intercourse. Therefore, when you experience any of these symptoms, you should visit a hospital to see if you have endometriosis. Why do I have endometriosis? Western medicine etiology: The etiology of endometriosis is still unclear and may be related to the following factors: the endometrium may flow backwards with menstrual blood, enter the pelvic cavity via the fallopian tubes and be planted on the pelvic tissue; a history of repeated uterine surgical operations (abortion, tubal lavage, etc.) may also cause the endometrium to enter the pelvic cavity; in addition, the disease has a genetic predisposition. Chinese medicine etiology: Chinese medicine summarizes that the cause of endometriosis is mainly blood stasis, and the causes of blood stasis mainly include: cold due to careless living in cold climate, or depression or impatience due to excessive stress in work life. Treatment of endometriosis Western medical treatment for endometriosis includes medication and surgery. Drug therapy is mainly hormone suppression therapy, whose main purpose is to create a low estrogen environment to suppress the disease. The symptom relief rate of treatment ranges from 75% to 90%, and the 2-year pregnancy rate is 30.5% to 64%. Drug treatment is based on amenorrhea, which affects the patient’s endocrine function; it may affect bone metabolism and damage liver function after taking the drug, and should not be used for a long time, but it can basically return to normal after stopping the drug. Surgical treatment modalities are divided into conservative surgery and radical surgery. Since endoheterosis mostly occurs in women of reproductive age, radical surgery to remove the uterus and bilateral ovaries is difficult for patients to accept. The high recurrence rate is a problem that is difficult to overcome with conservative surgery, with a reported recurrence rate of 24.1% for total hysterectomy and 57.1% for retained uterus. Both drugs and conservative surgery have a high recurrence rate. To reduce recurrence, surgical removal of ectopic foci, followed by postoperative drug therapy, is the main method, with a reported recurrence rate of 20% at 24 weeks after surgery. Moreover, the use of drugs may cause menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and sweating and joint pain. Chinese herbal medicine for endometriosis has no obvious toxic side effects, does not affect the normal physiological function of patients, and can play a regulatory role for endocrine disorders and help with fertility, thus it is generally welcomed by patients. The essence of the pathology of endometriosis is “blood stasis”, which has been widely agreed by Chinese medicine scholars. Our previous research has proved that Chinese medicine has certain advantages in treating endometriosis and suppressing postoperative recurrence, with significant efficacy.