Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 16, 2021; 9(35): 10805-10815
Published online Dec 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i35.10805
Blood tests for prediction of deep endometriosis: A case-control study
Zheng-Yun Chen, Li-Feng Zhang, Yong-Qing Zhang, Yong Zhou, Xiao-Yong Li, Xiu-Feng Huang
Zheng-Yun Chen, Li-Feng Zhang, Yong-Qing Zhang, Yong Zhou, Xiao-Yong Li, Xiu-Feng Huang, Department of Gynecology, Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Chen ZY participated in the design of this study, drafted the manuscript, and performed the statistical analysis; Zhang LF, Zhang YQ, Zhou Y, and Li XY carried out the study and collected data; Huang XF participated in the design of this study and made critical revision related to the important intellectual content of the manuscript; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Zhejiang National Science Foundation, No. LGF20H040010 and No. LY17H040004; and Zhejiang Bureau of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 2017ZA092.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee at Women’s Hospital School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. IRB-20200049-R.
Informed consent statement: The data are anonymous, and the requirement for informed consent was therefore waived.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicting interests.
Data sharing statement: Statistical code, and data set available from the corresponding author at (email: huangxiufeng@zju.edu.cn). Participants gave informed consent for data sharing but the presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Xiu-Feng Huang, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Gynecology, Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 1 Xueshi Road, Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China. huangxiufeng@zju.edu.cn
Received: June 1, 2021
Peer-review started: June 1, 2021
First decision: June 25, 2021
Revised: June 26, 2021
Accepted: September 15, 2021
Article in press: September 15, 2021
Published online: December 16, 2021
Processing time: 191 Days and 23.6 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Deep endometriosis (DE) is the most aggressive subtype of the disease. The diagnosis of DE is challenging. No biomarkers have been identified for discriminating women with DE from those without DE.

Research motivation

Developing new approaches for predicting DE before surgery is of crucial importance. It is unclear whether DE could be identified by routine hematological evaluation before surgery.

Research objectives

To evaluate the role of blood hemostatic parameters and inflammatory indices in the prediction of DE before surgical intervention.

Research methods

A case-control study investigated the value of routine plasma hemostatic parameters and inflammatory indices in women with DE and without endometriosis. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis following adjustment for potential confounding factors were performed. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated, and the areas under the curve was calculated to assess the predictive values of the selected parameters.

Research results

Elevated plasma fibrinogen (Fg) and decreased hemoglobin (HB) levels were found in women with DE compared with controls. Plasma Fg and HB levels were significantly associated with DE after adjusting for potential confounding factors. The diagnostic value of Fg or HB alone for DE detection before surgical intervention was limited, but the combination of Fg and HB had good predictive value for DE.

Research conclusions

It suggested that the combination of Fg and HB levels could be used as a reliable predictor of DE. Based on the model, a thorough assessment is recommended for suspected patients with DE.

Research perspectives

Further studies are required to investigate how Fg and HB contribute to the development of endometriosis, particularly DE.