Primary Uumbilical endometriosis - case series and review of clinical presentation, diagnosis and management

INTRODUCTION: Umbilical endometriosis is the most common cutaneous form and is seen mostly secondary to surgical scar and rarely occurs as primary umbilical endometriosis. The objective of this retrospective case series evaluation is to report the presentation, diagnosis, and management of patients with primary umbilical endometriosis. PRESENTATION OF CASES: We present a retrospective, observational and descriptive review of cases presenting with primary umbilical endometriosis among Indian women managed in two private tertiary care centres between 2018 and 2020. Patients were assessed at the gynaecological outpatient department. We analysed age, parity, presenting symptoms and duration, associated symptoms, imaging, size of the lesion, associated pelvic endometriosis or any pelvic pathology, management, and histopathological diagnosis for confirmation in all four patients. DISCUSSION: The patients were aged between 25 and 31 years with an average of 28 years with no previous history of any abdominal surgeries. The mean duration of the symptoms presented in these cases was 25.5 months, with a range from 18 to 48 months. The diagnosis was made by clinical examination supported by imaging followed by complete surgical excision and confirmation on histopathology. CONCLUSION: Primary umbilical endometriosis is a rare disease with a limited number of cases reported in the literature and should be included in the differential diagnosis if women present with umbilical lesions with cyclical pain. Diagnosis is clinical but can be aided by high resolution imaging such as Ultrasound (US) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Complete surgical excision is the treatment of choice.