The National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF) is asking the State for help to set up expert centers for endometriosis, an unknown and poorly treated gynecological disease.
“We are fed up with thinking, we have to act”. According to The Parisian, the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF) is asking the State for help in setting up expert centers for endometriosis. The goal is to “federate skills. The English have had them for ten years. It would take about thirty in France. The idea is to organize care, provide training, promote better education, develop research But we come up against “political and financial blockages”, explains François Golfier, who chairs the endometriosis commission of the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF).
50% of infertile women suffer from endometriosis
Endometriosis is a gynecological disease caused by abnormal migration of cells from the endometrium (which lines the inner lining of the uterus) outside the uterus. While 10 to 15% of women between the ages of 16 and 50 suffer from it, it takes an average of 7 years for the diagnosis to be made, a time that is far too long given the serious symptoms and serious consequences of this pathology.
50% of infertile women suffer from endometriosis. Affected women have very strong pain during their period, sexual intercourse or when they go to the bathroom, which drains them of all energy. Traces of blood in the urine or stools may also appear. “It is the intensity of these pains and the deterioration in the quality of life that should alert. Not being able to go to school or work because of your period, being socially embarrassed is not normal”, continues François Golfier.
Diagnostic
The diagnosis of endometriosis is based primarily on the questioning of the doctor following the complaints of the affected woman. It will be completed by a detailed clinical examination and an ultrasound of the small pelvis.
In the event of a discrepancy between the complaints and the examinations, other more specialized examinations can be carried out (endovaginal ultrasound or MRI), and it is only in the absence of a characteristic lesion that a more invasive “diagnostic laparoscopy” should be considered. It consists of inserting a tube with a visual device into the belly. In case of diagnosis of endometriosis, and before any surgery, it is necessary to evaluate the extension of the disease with examinations which will explore the bladder and the intestines.
Preventive egg freezing
Recently, the singer Laurie, suffering from endometriosis, made a commitment so that sick women could freeze their oocytes in France, which is currently not possible. “I suffer from endometriosis but not severely enough for my country to support my desire for pregnancy. Like one in ten women in France, I fear that I will never be able to become a mother, so to be told that this development would be a matter of comfort is unacceptable and incomprehensible”, she explained in an open letter addressed to President Emmanuel Macron. It was only at the age of 35, following an ectopic pregnancy, that Laurie was diagnosed.
However, she had spoken of her pain to her gynecologist from her first period. “If I had been told that at age 25 the probability of having a child per cycle was 25%, 12% at 35 and 6% at 40, I would have put all the chances of my side, freezing my oocytes”, she still laments in the Huffington Post, stating that she had frozen her eggs in Spain. Today, endometriosis is still not on the exam program to become a doctor.
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