Future Medicine has announced the publication of The
Challenge of Endometriosis a collection of key reviews
highlighting state-of-the-art thinking in managing a
major problem in women’s health.
The Special Focus review collection,
published in Women’s Health, has been
compiled and contributed to by the Editor, Professor
Thomas D’Hooghe of Leuven University Fertility
Center, Belgium. He and his colleagues have written
a series of comprehensive articles, focusing on the
major issues in endometriosis and future prospects in
research and management.
Endometriosis affects tens of millions
of women worldwide, and can seriously affect a woman’s
day-to-day life, affecting her ability to finish her
education, maintain a career and have a family.
The Special Focus includes four articles,
covering the future of basic and clinical research,
a detailed discussion of two of the most promising new
drug classes, selective estrogen-receptor modulators
and aromatase inhibitors, a report on endometriosis
in African women, and an insight into Professor D’Hooghe’s
latest work with an experimental model of the disease.
In his introduction to a special focus
on the topic in Women’s Health, Professor D’Hooghe
explains that “The disease often has a crippling
effect on a woman’s life, but it is not recognised
by society in general (or many healthcare professionals)
because it does not cause visible handicaps. In addition,
endometriosis is shrouded in a cloud of taboos regarding
menstruation, sexuality, infertility and pain –
particularly in the developing world.”
Commenting on the reports, Professor
William Ledger, Head of Reproductive and Developmental
Medicine at the University of Sheffield, said “Endometriosis
remains an under researched and enigmatic disease. It
affects the lives of millions of women in Europe, sometimes
cripplingly. At its worst it can resemble a cancer,
with repeated major surgery and drug treatments with
powerful side effects. The disease strikes the young
– one sees patients with severe endometriosis
who are under 20, and most are under 35. We still know
little about the disease – why some are affected
and others are not, why some have severe problems while
others are less so. We do not even understand why women
with endometriosis are sometimes infertile.”
Professor D’Hooghe feels that
this lack of recognition has led to a discrepancy between
the high prevalence and socioeconomic impact of endometriosis
and the lack of funds available to researchers in the
field. He says, “Despite the enormity of the problem,
there is little funding available for research”.
Given the under-recognition of the condition, these
four review articles by a leading expert should be of
great interest to all researchers in the field.
Professor Ledger summarised, “This
edition pulls together the major strands of research
knowledge in the areas of cause, diagnosis and treatment
of endometriosis. It allows readers to acquaint themselves
rapidly with the complexities of this disorder and its
treatment. We must hope that it will stimulate new thinking
in the field and attract interest from those researching
in other areas who identify synergies in the papers
presented.”
Lone Hummelshoj, one of the world’s
most prominent advocates for women with endometriosis
and publisher/editor-in-chief of www.endometriosis.org,
welcomes this issue of Women’s Health.
“Endometriosis can rob thousands of girls of healthy
teenage years and threaten their fertility, and many
young women endure the pain of endometriosis without
fully understanding its implications”, says Hummelshoj.
“An entire issue dedicated to shedding light on
the disease will hopefully contribute to a better and
wider understanding of endometriosis, so that women
will not suffer in silence like their mothers and grandmothers,
bearing in mind that endometriosis has strong genetic
links”, concludes Hummelshoj.
The full collection of articles is
available free of charge for a period of 2 weeks from
18 October 2007 from the following location: http://www.futuremedicine.com/toc/whe/3/5
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