Regional treatment with liquid barrier agents: a novel therapeutic option for intraperitoneal endometriosis?

Endometriosis is a frequent gynecological disease, which is characterized by the presence of endometriotic lesions, i.e. ectopic endometrial glands and stroma, outside the uterine cavity. Most of these lesions are located in the peritoneal cavity, where they induce a chronic inflammatory and angiogenic tissue response. This is often associated with the formation of peritoneal adhesions. Accordingly, endometriosis is crucially dependent on the close interaction of the ectopic endometrial tissue with the peritoneum and the peritoneal fluid. Therefore, we hypothesize in the present paper that regional treatment of endometriosis, selectively targeting the peritoneal microenvironment without inducing severe systemic side effects, may represent a promising novel treatment strategy. This may be achieved by the application of liquid barrier agents, which are already well established in clinical practice for peritoneal dialysis, treatment of peritoneal surface malignancies and prevention of postoperative adhesions. Of interest, some of these agents have been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-tumoral properties. Thus, they may act as pleiotropic compounds, affecting multiple mechanisms, which are involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.