The 7th European Congress of Endometriosis is being held for the first time in Romania, at the initiative of the renowned surgeon Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă, founder of ENDOMEDICARE Academy.
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă, founder of ENDOMEDICARE Academy
The meeting of experts in the field of endometriosis takes place in Bucharest, between June 6-8, 2024
The 91 specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis come to Bucharest, from over 30 countries of the world, as part of the European Endometriosis Congress, a large-scale event with over 500 participants, a scientific event under the auspices of the European Endometriosis League.
Endometriosis is a chronic disease, one of the most widespread gynecological conditions. Endometriosis globally affects one in 10 women, and in Romania statistics show that approximately 500,000 women suffer from this disease.
An emerging condition recognized for its chronic pain and impact on fertility, endometriosis is a sensitive topic for millions of women. Diagnosed late, the diagnosis taking an average of 5-7 years and suboptimally treated, through incomplete or repeated surgical interventions, these women lose the chance to give birth to children.
At the professional and social level, endometriosis is considered a stigma, and in the long term, the impact on the quality of life is a negative one, women who face the disease being invalidated in their family, professional and social roles.
The 7th European Endometriosis Congress is being held for the first time in Romania
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă is the initiator of the first European Endometriosis Congress held in Romania
Through this brand event, the Romanian medical school in Romania is positioned on the world's honorable map, as a landmark of knowledge and expertise in the super-specialized field of endometriosis.
Under the auspices of the European Endometriosis League, the European Endometriosis Congress brings together in Bucharest 91 experts from over 30 countries of the world, recognized in the treatment, diagnosis and surgery of endometriosis.
The 7th European Endometriosis Congress will bring to the fore the newest trends and innovations in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis, with the goal of expert consensus, as a synthesis of recent debates and research in the emerging fields of molecular pathology, genetics, robotic surgery, imaging and artificial intelligence.
Obstetrics-gynecology primary physician, Head of Clinic Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital “Prof. dr. Panait Sȋrbu”, Founding member of the East-European Society of Endometriosis and Infertility and President of the Romanian Society of Urogynecology, Prof. Elvira Brătilă founded the Endometriosis-Endomedicare Academy in 2017, Center of Excellence in the diagnosis, treatment and surgery of endometriosis , which obtained in 2022 the most prestigious European certification – EuroEndoCert.
In this center, more than 1500 patients suffering from endometriosis have benefited from the chance of complex interventions, in cases of deeply infiltrative endometriosis, benefiting from the minimally invasive surgical approach, Golden-standard unanimously accepted globally.
Prof. Elvira Brătilă, Obstetrics and Gynecology primary physician: “Following a rigorous and complex evaluation process, the external auditor EuroEndocert validated, through this certification of the Endomedicare Academy Center of Excellence, compliance with therapeutic protocols and standards, multidisciplinary surgical management of cases, expertise in complex endometriosis interventions, aiming in summary at the efficiency and the quality of the medical act and the improvement of the patients' quality of life after endometriosis surgery.”
Advancement in technology has helped to better understand endometriosis
Today, through minimally invasive, laparoscopic or robotic surgery, Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă is recognized as the first gynecological surgeon who operated robotically in Romania in the field of gynecology.
“Endometriosis has been known for many years, but not always the most promptly diagnosed and treated. Endometriosis is a disease that we have known about since 1880. However, deep endometriosis was described in the 90s. For a long time we lacked diagnostic tools and after they were perfected, I mean the imaging ones, s -have perfected both treatment methods and techniques. The technological advance brought by minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopic surgery, then robotic surgery also helped us here. All this allowed us to know and better understand endometriosis and its locations, to correlate these data with the patient's symptoms, with the evolution and the degree of recurrence of the disease.” Sasks Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă, in the interview for Adevărul Live.
The first National Endometriosis Program, the important step towards normality for Romanian patients
Antoineta Banu: Why, however, at this moment, in Romania we cannot have an official figure of women diagnosed with endometriosis?
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă: The same thing is happening all over the world. Nowhere do we have official statistics of patients, although this would be very useful in the configuration of health programs and in forecasting financial resources that could facilitate better access of patients with endometriosis to optimal treatment, in multidisciplinary centers-superspecialized in diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
This year, the first National Endometriosis Program came into force, a first step towards normalcy for Romanian patients who are faced with intestinal endometriosis and who can benefit from financial support through the partial settlement of the cost of the surgical intervention. It's a first step, it may seem small for humanity, but it's important for these women. The effort, the involvement must be continued.
Antoineta Banu: Endometriosis is underdiagnosed. Why is the diagnosis, in the case of some women, even after 5-7 years?
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă: Precisely because it is not a disease with some symptoms that theoretically fit into an easy diagnostic table – pain during menstruation, periovulatory pain, pain during sexual contact, the most common symptoms that a patient can present to you, as a doctor, you can not detect lesions suspicious of endometriosis during the clinical and ultrasound examination and think that this is not the diagnosis.
Thus, several years pass until an endometriosis cyst appears, that is, a cyst on the ovary with specific characteristics of endometriosis. Then it is much easier to diagnose by the specialized clinician. It does not mean that until then the disease did not exist, perhaps even with a much more dangerous location than the respective cyst. And this was also the idea, which appeared in 2017, to establish the Endomedicare Academy.
After a long experience both in minimally invasive surgery and in endometriosis, we considered it necessary to coagulate this multidisciplinary center, which unites the specialists we considered necessary in the approach to the patient with endometriosis. All we want is to make a diagnosis as precise as possible, and to approach the patient with a therapeutic attitude as correct as possible, depending on the specifics of the disease and the particularities of each case.
Education in endometriosis, a mission and a community of better informed patients
Antoineta Banu:
We have awareness campaigns about cervical cancer, about breast cancer, but we have not seen a campaign dedicated to endometriosis from the Romanian state.
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă: Also in 2017, together with fellow professors, specialists in obstetrics-gynecology, I founded the East European Endometriosis and Infertility Society. Since that year, we have annually held national congresses, workshops, courses and more. At least once a year we held an event dedicated exclusively to patients.
Within them, together with other colleagues specializing in endometriosis and infertility, I answered the questions asked by women, giving them the best and correct answers about this disease. In this way, every year, we carried out campaigns to raise awareness of this disease, because certain groups of patients joined us, which led to a greater dissemination of our messages, in an educational effort published in endometriosis.
Message for patients with endometriosis: Menstruation does NOT have to hurt!
Antoineta Banu: When the pains appear, should the woman seek the answer to the specialist about a possible endometriosis lesion? What is your message for patients, for women in general?
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă: Menstruation should not hurt. It doesn't have to be periovulatory pain for what is physiological. It is not normal to have pain. If they appear, then they are an alarm signal, and the patient must seek answers from the specialist, ask if the symptoms she has can draw attention to an endometriosis lesion.
“My joy is that, over the years, more and more colleagues from all counties and university centers have begun to understand the disease and diagnose it more and more correctly, providing the premises for optimal treatment. I consider it to be a very big win for Romanian patients, being also a credit to the endometriosis center that I established. We managed to create a network of colleagues who can provide quality care to our patients.”
Prof. Dr. Elvira Brătilă concludes.
