title: Biomarkers of endometriosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diagnosis of endometriosis is surgical through laparoscopy, which is invasive, costly and associated with potential complications.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  A non-invasive test for diagnosis of endometriosis will focus the use of laparoscopy on women who are highly suspected of having endometriosis. This review includes studies about different biomarkers for endometriosis and their potential for the non-surgical diagnosis of this disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review covers studies that investigated different biomarkers in blood or endometrium. Studies that identified definite cutoff points and evaluated the diagnostic performance of the biomarker as a blood test for endometriosis are focused on.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Some of the markers investigated showed a good specificity, none of them showed a high sensitivity. More multi-center studies involving larger numbers of patients are required to identify the most useful biomarker.
authors.affiliation: Assiut Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Egypt.
authors.forename: Essam El-Din R
authors.initials: Eel-D
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.forename: Ayman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Hendy