Although it is a benign disease, in terms of its progression and its involvement of other organs it has a malignant (cancer-like) behaviour. While involvement of the ovaries, the peritoneum inside the abdomen, the large bowel and the ureter is frequent, it can affect all the organs inside the abdomen.
The thickest and longest nerve in the human body!
The sciatic nerve is the thickest and longest nerve in the human body. After being formed from the nerve fibres coming from the lower part of the spinal cord, it leaves the abdominal cavity and passes to the back of the thigh, and behind the knee it divides into two separate nerves and goes as far as the foot.
While the sensation of the sole of the foot, the back of the calf, and the back of the knee and thigh is carried by the sciatic nerve, some foot and leg muscles are also stimulated by the sciatic nerve. Endometriosis can rarely involve the part of this nerve inside the abdomen and can lead to sciatic nerve problems.
What are its symptoms?
When the sciatic nerve is involved, pain, a feeling of numbness, tingling and muscle weakness are observed at the back of the thigh, behind the knee, at the back of the calf and in the sole of the foot, especially during the menstrual period.
These complaints can arise when pressure is put on the sciatic nerve by a slipped disc, or any pressure or compression along the course of the nerve can lead to these complaints.
It emerges after a physical examination
In the involvement of the sciatic nerve by endometriosis, because inflammation increases in the endometriotic tissue on the nerve during the menstrual period, the complaints increase during the period. Whether these complaints are due to endometriosis or to another cause emerges after a detailed physical examination.
In endometriosis, involvement of the sciatic nerve can generally be missed. For this reason the patient needs to be examined by doctors experienced in this subject.
The definitive treatment method
The definitive treatment is the surgical removal of that endometriotic tissue. Today there are neuropelviologists (who perform nerve surgery in the groin area) in the world who have specialised in this work.
In our country there are only two specialists in obstetrics and gynaecology who hold this certificate. With the removal of the lesion by a neuropelviologist laparoscopically or with the robot, all the complaints regress and the patient returns to her normal life.
Since the lesion will be removed completely from the nerve, having this surgery performed by a neuropelviologist who is very experienced in this field reduces to a minimum the harm to the patient from the operation