What research is being done to learn more about endometriosis?

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What research is being done to learn more about endometriosis?

The NICHD continues to study and learn about endometriosis. The NICHD established a Reproductive Medicine Gynecology Program in the Reproductive Sciences Branch to support research on women’s health conditions that aren’t cancerous, including endometriosis.

In 1998, the NICHD joined other Institutes at the NIH in setting up 12 Women’s Reproductive Health Research Career Development Centers. These Centers support obstetricians and gynecologists in becoming researchers, so that they can study topics on women’s health. Eight additional Centers, started in 1999, will allow this important research to continue until we know the causes, treatments, and someday, the cures for endometriosis and other reproductive diseases. For more information about the Centers, go to http://www.nichd.nih.gov/cpr/rs/rs.htm.

In addition to these Centers, the Reproductive Sciences Branch of the NICHD also supports research on endometriosis, and on other topics that affect women’s health. The Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproductive Research (SCCPRR), established in the late 1990s, relies on multidisciplinary approaches to research on reproductive health topics. The SCCPRR has a number of basic, translational, and clinical studies in progress at 14 sites around the country that are aimed at finding the cause of endometriosis, including its genetics and the factors that influence its development and growth.

woman looking down Other NICHD researchers are looking for new medical treatments for pain related to endometriosis. One such study examines whether daily doses of a hormone-like medication, given after surgery for endometriosis, is more effective at reducing pain than surgery alone. The results of this study could lead to other advances in treating pain related to endometriosis. For more information on this and other studies related to endometriosis, call 1-800-411-1222, or visit the NIH Clinical Trials Web site, at .

Different components of the NICHD also conduct research on genetics, diseases, and environmental factors that affect the reproductive health of men and women. The Reproductive Sciences Branch held a conference in April 2001, specifically on endometriosis. The proceedings from this conference were published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in March 2002 (Volume 955). The NICHD’s Division of Intramural Research is also doing research on endometriosis, trying to develop and evaluate effective treatments for the disease.

The efforts of the NICHD researchers, NICHD-supported scientists, and other researchers will carry on until endometriosis is no longer a factor in women’s health.

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