title: [Bowel endometriosis: a benign disease?].
abstract: Endometriosis is generally assumed to be a benign disease, but it is estimated that 1% of cases are associated with cancer, especially when both conditions are present in the ovary. Extra-ovarian lesions in the rectovaginal septum, colon, bladder, vagina and peritoneum were already associated with malign neoplasia. Several characteristics of endometrial tissue are very similar to the neoplasia phenotype. Endometriosis itself typically behaves as a neoplasia process, spreading over adjacent stroma and being associated with distant lesions. This is an update on the diagnostic, clinical, and therapeutic knowledge of, management of bowel implants of endometrial tissue, as well as the relation with neoplastic processes to better understand its benign nature or eventual potential for malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, FM, USP.
authors.forename: Marco Antonio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bassi
authors.forename: Sérgio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Podgaec
authors.forename: João Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dias Júnior
authors.forename: Carlos Walter
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Sobrado
authors.forename: Nicolau
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: D Amico Filho
mesh_terms: D003108:Colonic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans