Endometriosis and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Clinical Advice and Future Considerations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic shift in the clinical practice of women's health and routine care for endometriosis has been severely disrupted. Endometriosis is defined as an inflammatory disease characterized by lesions of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus that is associated with pelvic pain and/or infertility. It affects ~10% of reproductive age women worldwide, is diagnosed by surgical visualization or by radiological imaging, and is managed with hormone treatments or by laparoscopic removal of lesions.

At the time of writing, under the guidance of international gynecological organizations, many centers temporarily ceased offering outpatient appointments, diagnostic imaging for non-acute pelvic pain, surgery for endometriosis, and fertility treatments. In the absence of routine care pathways and uncertainty about when health services will be available again, endometriosis sufferers are likely to feel vulnerable and that resultant stress and anxiety may contribute to a worsening of symptoms. The pandemic poses several important questions for healthcare providers on how best to deliver care within these restrictions. Herein, we present clinical advice on the management of endometriosis during the COVID-19 pandemic and future considerations.

Rights

© 2020 Leonardi, Horne, Armour, Missmer, Roman, Rombauts, Hummelshoj, Wattiez, Condous and Johnson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cite as

Downloadable citations

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3389/frph.2020.00005

Repository URI

https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/endometriosis-and-the-coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-clinical-advice-and-future-considerations(77cb40ee-c3fd-4eb6-ae21-18217cfbaf70).html