title: New evidence of the presence of endometriosis in the human fetus.
abstract: The aetiology of endometriosis, a gynaecological disease defined by the histological presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside the uterine cavity, is still open to debate. Research has recently found evidence for endometriosis in human female fetuses at different gestational ages. This paper reports a new case of fetal endometriosis in a 25-week female fetus, deceased due to placental pathology, from a series of 13 female fetuses analysed at autopsy. The exact anatomical localization of this misplaced endometrium, as well as its histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics are illustrated. The case suggests that endometriosis can be caused by dislocation of primitive endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity during organogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Fondazione Italiana Endometriosi, via E Longoni 81, 00155 Rome, Italy. research@endometriosi.it
authors.forename: Pietro G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Signorile
authors.forename: Feliciano
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baldi
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bussani
authors.forename: Mariarosaria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Armiento
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Falco
authors.forename: Mariarosaria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boccellino
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quagliuolo
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baldi
mesh_terms: D004715:Endometriosis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000209:etiology; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry