Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 28, 2015; 21(16): 4997-5001
Published online Apr 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i16.4997
Role of colonoscopy in the diagnostic work-up of bowel endometriosis
Marco Milone, Antonio Mollo, Mario Musella, Paola Maietta, Loredana Maria Sosa Fernandez, Olena Shatalova, Alessandro Conforti, Gianni Barone, Giuseppe De Placido, Francesco Milone
Marco Milone, Mario Musella, Paola Maietta, Olena Shatalova, Gianni Barone, Francesco Milone, Department of Advanced Biomedical Science, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy
Antonio Mollo, Loredana Maria Sosa Fernandez, Giuseppe De Placido, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Science and Odonstostomatology, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy
Gianni Barone, Department of Surgery, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, 80123 Naples, Italy
Author contributions: Milone M and Musella M contributed equally to this manuscript; Milone M was the main investigator and wrote the first manuscript draft; Milone M, Mollo A, Musella M, Maietta P, Sosa Fernandez LM, Shatalova O, Conforti A and Barone G designed the study; Maietta P, Sosa Fernandez LM, Shatalova O, Conforti A and Barone G were involved in patient recruitment and collection of the data; Milone M, Mollo A, Musella M and Barone G significantly contributed to the interpretation of findings; Milone F and De Placido G share the co-seniorship, approved the research and significantly contributed to the final version of the article; all the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Ethics approval: The study was reviewed and approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the University of Naples “Federico II”.
Informed consent: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no conflicting interest to declare.
Data sharing: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Marco Milone, MD, Department of Advanced Biomedical Science, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy. milone.marco@alice.it
Telephone: +82-39-817463064 Fax: +82-39-817462896
Received: October 15, 2014
Peer-review started: October 15, 2014
First decision: December 2, 2014
Revised: December 20, 2014
Accepted: February 12, 2015
Article in press: February 13, 2015
Published online: April 28, 2015
Processing time: 194 Days and 15.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Endometriosis is common gynecological condition that in a substantial number of cases injures intestinal tissue and causes remarkable morbidity among affected individuals. A surgical approach is still the most effective, but preoperative assessment is often challenging even for expert physicians and requires several diagnostic techniques for a clear definition of the location and extent of endometrial implants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of colonoscopy in the diagnostic work-up of bowel endometriosis.