Dear colleagues,
This is a personal invitation to you.
We are very proud in Montpellier
to have the opportunity to receive our colleagues from every part of the world on
the occasion of the 11th World Congress on Endometriosis. We are dedicated to make
this congress a very special event both scientifi cally and socially.
Endometriosis is one of the challenges in women’s health. Numerous exciting studies and researchare
currently under way and will bring in 2011 new developments that will be presented
and discussed at length.
Montpellier has a long lasting and renowned medical tradition.
Its medical university is one of the very fi rst in France. September is the time
of the grape harvest and certainly the best period of the year to pay a visit to
the south of France, after the hordes of tourists have left the beaches and the
charming villages. The weather and the temperature are exactly right!
Around the
Montpellier Academic Hospital medical team, we have gathered a national scientific
committee with the participation of neighbouring countries. We will work hard to
organise a perfect and memorable congress and hope that you will be able to accept
our invitation and participate in moving the fi eld of endometriosis forward towards
excellence.
On behalf of the organising committee,
B. Hedon - President of WCE 2011
Prepare for Montpellier, listen to the accordion!
Endometriosis is an enigma. At least that’s what each textbook mentions in one way
or the other. If all women show retrograde menstruation and if the reflux consists
of viable endometrial fragments, why then do not all of them develop endometriosis?
If refluxed endometrium is self-tissue, how is it recognized, and how does the peritoneal
garbage collection and disposal system – the macrophages and natural killer cells
– know it should be removed and destroyed in order to prevent its fearsome implantation
on the peritoneal lining? For a long time we have had many questions and few answers.
Many women have endometriosis, few have symptoms. In some, extensive endometriosis
is a chance finding during laparoscopic sterilization, in others, with debilitating
pain, a few red spots is all you can find. Dozens of factors, in the menstruum,
in the blood, in the peritoneal fluid, have been described which occur at significantly
different rates in women with and without endometriosis. But if there exist so many
differences doesn’t this mean to say that we have not found the real cause yet?
Jed Babbin, George W Bush’s deputy undersecretary of defence once said, in January
2003: “Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion”.
Maybe we have gone to war on endometriosis too impulsively. With old-fashioned contrivances,
with poor diagnostic tools, and with an imperfect therapeutic armamentarium. Maybe
we should pay more attention to the accordion. Now is the time to really make scientific
progress. Fascinating new techniques in cell and molecular biology, population genetics,
tissue typing, immunology and advanced medical imaging finally allow us to try and
understand what happens when the first few viable fragments of functional endometrium
detach from their basal layer and start their travel through the tubes. Customized
medicines, personalized pharmacogenetics, targeted drug delivery systems will follow.
Only when we understand endometriosis can we treat it. An exciting new phase in
the quest for knowledge starts right now. The results will be presented (in France!)
in Montpellier.
Join in the excitement, come to Montpellier in 2011.
Hans Evers - President of World Endometriosis Society