What are the benefits of surgical excision versus ablation?
The goal of surgical excision is to completely cut out all visible endometriotic implants. Excision can be performed using any number of modalities including monopolar scissors, bipolar electrosurgery, and the carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. The surgeon will select the modality that gives the greatest confidence in removing all the endometriotic implants wherever they are found — even over vital organs including the bladder, parts of the bowel, and the ureters. The aim of ablation is to destroy the endometriotic implants by burning or coagulating them. The concern with ablation is that only the easily visible signs of endometriosis are treated, potentially leaving deeper areas of endometriosis untreated. While excision is not proven to be superior to ablation, excision of areas thought to have endometriosis has a number of advantages — the lesion is excised down to normal tissue ensuring its complete removal, less charred areas are produced which can lead to adhesions, and the specimen r
