Abdominal wall endometriosis. An overlooked diagnosis

OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence of abdominal wall endometriosis after cesarean section and its presentation to the general surgeon.

METHODS: Fourteen patients were treated for abdominal wall endometriosis during the period June 1997 to May 2002 at Princess Basma Teaching Hospital and King Abdulla University Hospital, Irbid, Jordan. The patient's files were reviewed to see their way and time of presentation after cesarean section, provisional diagnosis made and operative procedures performed. Symptoms suggestive of and investigations carried out to detect pelvic endometriosis were also looked for and recorded.

RESULTS: Fourteen patients were treated within 5 years; all had painful scar-related mass. The pain was exacerbating during menstruation in 5. The clinical diagnosis was stitch granuloma in 3; incisional hernia in 3, abdominal wall tumor in 3 and abdominal wall endometrioma in 5 patients. The mean time for the mass to be noticed by the patient was 2 years. They were treated with wide local excision. Histopathological examination proved the diagnosis of abdominal wall endometriosis. None had evidence of pelvic endometriosis and none of them had recurrence. The incidence of the disease is around 0.2% of the cesarean sections performed during the same period.

CONCLUSION: The treating physician should keep in mind abdominal wall endometriosis as a possible cause of post cesarean section scar-related masses.