Should we also work on an international informed consent for endometriosis surgery?

Abstract

Sir, We read the consensus opinion on the recording of deep endometriosis findings at surgery (Vanhie et al., 2016) with great interest. The consensus established by the group of experts will be, without a doubt, extremely useful for comparing surgical techniques and practices. It should have a direct impact on the quality of studies, and should help, as mentioned in the paper, to turn opinion into science. However, I have some concerns on the consensus regarding information provided to the patient. We believed that, as in many fields in surgery, there should be an internationally agreed informed consent form. This form when agreed upon should be translated into all relevant languages, and provided to international societies, and individual physicians. Consequently, all patients will receive the same information, before surgery about the complications, alternatives, chance of success, risk of recurrence and potential fertility outcomes. An agreed and established international consent form will also be helpful if there is litigation after surgery with a high risk of complications. Additionally, an identical international informed consent form may improve pre-operative evaluation. Indeed, before signing this form, physicians will have to check if appropriate pre-operative evaluation has been carried out for each potential lesion. Pre-operative evaluation is a key step leading to the success of endometriosis surgery. This informed consent form could be a useful tool to evaluate the efficacy of the pre-operative evaluation and subsequent surgical outcome. Moreover, it should ensure that patients receive accurate and agreed information regarding the surgical procedure.