Endometriosis/Definition

A persisting (chronic) non-cancerous disease, sometimes with an hereditary component, affecting up to 10% of women of reproductive age, causes pain in the pelvis during the menstrual period and during sexual intercourse due to inflammatory swelling and bleeding of tissue resembling that lining the uterus (endometrial tissue) abnormally implanted and growing as nodules in various areas of the pelvis and in the ovaries, often accompanied by infertility.