Pathogenesis of Endometriosis: look no further than John Sampson

Publication date: Available online 24 October 2019Source: Reproductive BioMedicine OnlineAuthor(s): John L Yovich, Philip K Rowlands, Sunthra Lingham, Mark Sillender, Shanthi SrinivasanAbstractRather than consider endometriosis as an enigmatic disease, reading John Sampson's two theories/ mechanisms explains virtually all cases affecting the female. It is true that Sampson's most recent, 1940 publication, that of retrograde menstruation via the fallopian tubes, clearly fails to explain many types of endometriosis, particularly that located in extra-pelvic sites. However, his earlier publications of 1911 and 1912 on radiographic studies of hysterectomy specimens which had been injected with various gelatin/ bismuth/ pigment mixtures examining the unique uterine vasculature were more important. These studies enabled him to describe “the escape of foreign material from the uterine cavity into the uterine veins” in 1918 and subsequently the demonstration of metastatic or embolic endometriosis in the first of his two important publications in 1927. Later in that same year, in response to “academic banter” from other historic gynaecologists, he published a second article which indicated his redirected studies to explore the retrograde tubal menstruation idea; which required undertaking his hysterectomies during menses. That work led to his 1940 presentation at the invitation of the ACOG to focus on the second theory/ mechanism of endometriosis. This appears to have caused h...

Source: Reproductive BioMedicine Online - October 25, 2019 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: research