Question:
I’ve been told that endometriosis can spread outside of the pelvic area and I even heard of a woman with endometriosis who’s lung collapsed every time she had a period. Can endometriosis really spread to the lungs?
Answer:
Yes, while it is rare, endometriosis can grow in the lung…
. This is also known as thoracic endometriosis. There are two basic types of thoracic endometriosis. Thoracic endometriosis can be divided into pleural endometriosis (the lining of the lung) and parenchymal endometriosis (the lung itself). The majority of cases of pulmonary endometriosis occur in the pleura rather than the lung itself (about 5:1 – pleura:parenchyma).
PLEURAL ENDOMETRIOSIS:
The vast majority of patients with pleural endometriosis experience difficulty breathing (shortness of breath), pain, and pneumothorax (collapsed lung) or pleural effusion (water on the lung). Over 90% of cases are right sided. It is not uncommon to find small holes in the diaphragm. The majority of patients with pleural endometriosis also have pelvic endometriosis, raising the question if spread of the endometriosis is via the small holes in the diaphragm.
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http://www.drcook.com/adca8.html
The above information is an excerpt from the weblink above from the Dr Cook website.