Cited by 252Endometriosis Research and TreatmentGynecological conditions and treatmentsEndometrial and Cervical Cancer Treatments

Choosing the right surgical technique for deep endometriosis: shaving, disc excision, or bowel resection?

Open access
Donnez, Olivier, Roman, Horace·2017·Fertility and Sterility

Abstract

Deep endometriosis (DE) remains the most difficult endometriotic entity to treat. Medical treatment for DE can reduce symptoms but does not cure the disease, and surgical removal of the lesion is required when lesions are symptomatic, impairing bowel, urinary, sexual, and reproductive functions. Although several surgical techniques such as laparoscopic bowel resection, disc excision, and rectal shaving have been described, there is no consensus regarding the choice of technique or the timing of surgery. Our review of publications reporting results and complications of surgery for rectovaginal DE reveals a relatively higher complication rate after bowel resection compared with shaving and disc excision, especially for rectovaginal fistulas, anastomotic leakage, delayed hemorrhage, and long-term bladder catheterization. Data show that shaving is feasible even in advanced disease. The risk of immediate complications after shaving and disc excision is probably lower than after colorectal resection, allowing for better functional outcomes. The presumed higher risk of recurrence related to shaving has not been demonstrated. For these reasons, surgeons should consider rectal shaving as a first-line surgical treatment of rectovaginal DE, regardless of nodule size or association with other digestive localizations. When the result of rectal shaving is unsatisfactory (rare cases), disc excision may be performed either exclusively by laparoscopy or by using transanal staplers. Segmental resection may ultimately be reserved for advanced lesions responsible for major stenosis or for several cases of multiple nodules infiltrating the rectosigmoid junction or sigmoid colon.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.09.006

Cites

95 of 95 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [12]12. Koninckx PR, De Cicco C, Schonman R, Corona R, Betsas G, Ussia A. The recent article ''Endometriosis lesions that compromise the rectum deeper than the in- ner muscularis layer have more than 40% of the circumference of the rectum affected by the disease''. J Minim Invasive Gynecol 2008;15:774-5.
  2. [85]85. Vassilieff M, Suaud O, Collet-Savoye C, Da Costa C, Marouteau-Pasquier N, Belhiba H, et al. Computed tomography-based virtual colonoscopy: an ex- amination useful for the choice of the surgical management of colorectal endometriosis. Gynecol Obstet Fertil 2011;39:339-45.
  3. [86]86. Roman H, Bourdel N. Against the systematic use of segmental resection in colorectal endometriosis: do not replace the pain by unpleasant digestive symptoms! Gynecol Obstet Fertil 2009;37:358-62.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Donnez, O., & Roman, H.
Affiliations
  • UCLouvain (BE)
  • Hôpital Charles-Nicolle (FR)
Corresponding author
Donnez, Olivier
Venue
Fertility and Sterility
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-12
Volume
108
Issue
6
Pages
931-942
ISSN
0015-0282 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2773190186
Cited by
252
References
95
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 1
FWCI
4.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Fertility and Sterility (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Libraries (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Endometriosis Research and Treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Gynecological conditions and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Endometrial and Cervical Cancer Treatments
Keywords
deep infiltrating endometriosis, rectovaginal endometriosis, rectal shaving, disc excision, bowel resection, laparoscopic surgery, postoperative complications, rectovaginal fistula, anastomotic leakage, endometriosis recurrence, timing of surgery, segmentectomy
MeSH terms
Clinical Decision-Making, Endometriosis, Female, Humans, Male, Laparoscopy, Postoperative Complications, Rectal Diseases, Risk Factors, Digestive System Surgical Procedures, Gynecologic Surgical Procedures, Vaginal Diseases, Treatment Outcome, Patient Selection

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review