Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Assessment in Dubai
Pelvic pain that comes with periods, sex or bowel movements, or that has become constant, has a cause, and the commonest one gynaecologists find is endometriosis: tissue like the womb lining growing outside the womb. It affects roughly one woman in ten and typically takes years to be diagnosed. At Smart Care Polyclinic in Deira, a female gynaecologist takes the pain seriously from the first visit, scans in the consultation, and sets out the options.
For: period pain that stops life, pain with sex, chronic pelvic pain
Takes: a consultation with pelvic ultrasound
Price: consultation AED 150, ultrasound included
What it is
Endometriosis is womb-lining tissue outside the womb — on the ovaries, the ligaments behind the womb, the bowel or bladder surface — that bleeds with each cycle into places it cannot drain, causing inflammation, scarring and pain. Typical features are period pain that starts before the bleeding and worsens over years, pain deep in the pelvis during sex, painful bowel movements or urination around the period, and difficulty conceiving. Cysts of endometriosis on the ovary can be seen on ultrasound; the more diffuse disease often cannot.
Diagnosis has changed. The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology guideline, updated in 2022, no longer treats keyhole surgery as the gold standard test; the diagnosis can be made on symptoms, examination and imaging, and treatment started without an operation.1
Treatment is chosen for what matters most to you: pain, fertility, or both. The guideline sets out analgesics, hormonal treatments that suppress the cycle, and surgery for pain, and surgery and assisted conception for infertility, noting that the evidence does not single out one best treatment for everyone.1 Pelvic pain also has other causes — ovarian cysts, pelvic infection, adenomyosis, bladder and bowel conditions, and pain from the pelvic floor muscles — and the consultation is where they are told apart.
What happens at the visit
A detailed history of the pain and its timing, an examination, and a pelvic ultrasound in the same room. Swabs for infection where relevant. If the picture fits endometriosis, treatment can start that day; where a cyst needs specialist surgery or the diagnosis needs laparoscopy, the gynaecologist refers with the findings.
Ovarian cysts
Most ovarian cysts are functional, harmless and disappear within a few cycles; ultrasound tells them apart from cysts that need follow-up or removal. A cyst that causes sudden severe pain, with vomiting or faintness, may have twisted or ruptured and needs to be seen urgently.
The consultation, and what follows from it
Gynaecology consultation, with ultrasound
Assessment, examination and a plan with every cost stated before anything further is done.
AED 150 was AED 250
Book
Questions patients ask
By the pattern of symptoms, examination and ultrasound, following the 2022 ESHRE guideline, which no longer requires keyhole surgery before treatment starts. Surgery is still used where imaging is unclear or surgical treatment is planned.
It is a chronic condition that is controlled rather than cured; symptoms can be reduced substantially with hormonal treatment, pain management and, where needed, surgery, and it often settles after the menopause.
It can, though many women with endometriosis conceive naturally. Where it is a factor, the guideline supports surgical treatment and assisted conception depending on the individual case, which the gynaecologist can discuss.
This guide is general information, not advice about you. Symptoms overlap between conditions, and the gynaecologist's history, examination and ultrasound are what decide your assessment and treatment.
References
- Becker CM, Bokor A, Heikinheimo O, et al.. ESHRE guideline: endometriosis. Human Reproduction Open. 2022;2022(2):hoac009. PMID 35350465. doi:10.1093/hropen/hoac009The 2022 ESHRE guideline challenges laparoscopy and histology as the gold-standard diagnostic test; pain is treated with analgesics, medical treatment and surgery; infertility with surgery and/or assisted reproduction; no single best treatment for all.
Sources are listed for the specific statements they support. They are published research and guidance, not a substitute for a consultation — what applies to you is decided by a doctor who has assessed you.