Purpose: The present work aims at showing how dyspareunia linked to endometriosis can affect the life of fertile age women and how surgical treatment of endometriosis can relieve painful symptoms and consequently improve sex and social life.
Methods: From a cohort of 320 women with a clinical and instrumental diagnosis of pelvic endometriosis, 67 patients were selected. These patients had deep dyspareunia that underwent laparoscopic surgical treatment. All the patients had filled out a pre- and post-surgery questionnaire.
Results: Six months after laparoscopic treatment, a significant reduction of dyspareunia was recorded, per VAS scores. A statistically significant improvement in sex life was observed between the pre- and post-surgical condition: in particular, an increased number of coituses and of non-difficult coituses, a higher number of patients who declared that pain did not negatively affect sexual pleasure and of patients achieving orgasm.
Conclusions: The quality of the sex life in patients with endometriosis and dyspareunia showed significant improvement 6 months after laparoscopic treatment. In view of the diagnostic delay characterizing this disease and confirmed by our results, it is essential to involve a multidisciplinary team to assess all the signs and symptoms of endometriosis that may appear in a women of fertile age. This clinical approach is able to ensure a treatment that is as personalized as possible and an appropriate follow-up also with the objective of preserving reproductive performance.
Keywords: Chronic pelvic pain; Dyspareunia; Endometriosis; Female sexual disorders; Quality of sex life.