We often talk about endometriosis but little about adenomyosis. It occurs when the endometrium grows inside the muscular wall of the uterus rather than outside, as is the case with endometriosis. The point with Dr. Renkin, gynecologist and obstetrician, external consultant at the Saint-Luc University Clinics.
Etymologiquement adenomyosis refers to the endometrial glands (adeno-) and the myometrium which is the uterine muscle (-myosis).
Adenomyosis is a benign disease of the uterus, characterized by the presence of endometrium (the mucous membrane which lines the uterine cavity and which gives menstruation every month) which infiltrates within the myometrium (which is the muscular layer of the uterus, the one that gives the contractions during labor and delivery).
Adenomyosis is part of the spectrum of endometriosis (presence of endometrium at an atypical location) but remains localized to the uterus. In more than 10% of cases, adenomyosis is accompanied by foci of endometriosis. But be careful, even if the two pathologies can coexist, you can very well have adenomyosis without endometriosis and vice versa.
About one in ten women between the ages of 35 and 50 is affected by this disease. It is therefore rather a pathology of women who have already had children. But it happens in younger people too. And adenomyosis disappears with menopause.
Symptoms
- Period pain (dysmenorrhea)
- Very heavy periods (menorrhagia)
- Bleeding between periods (metrorrhagia)
- Pain during intercourse (dyspareunia)
- Possible abdominal pain apart from these.
Nshady are the women carriers of adenomyosis but who ignore it because they have few or no symptoms. The diagnosis can be made during a gynecological ultrasound. Adenomyosis can also be seen very well on MRI, this examination also makes it possible to exclude associated endometriosis.