LAUSR

OBJECTIVE This review aimed to categorize thoracic endometriosis syndrome (TES) according to whether the presenting symptoms are catamenial or not and to evaluate whether such a categorization enables a better management strategy. DATA SOURCE An electronic search was conducted using the PubMed/MEDLINE database. Method of study selection: The following key words were used in combination with the Boolean operators AND and OR: 'thoracic endometriosis syndrome', 'thoracic endometriosis', 'diaphragm endometriosis', and 'catamenial pneumothorax'. Tabulation integration and results: The initial search yielded 445 articles. Articles in non-English languages, those whose full texts were unavailable and those that did not present the symptomatology clearly were further excluded. After these exclusions, the review included 240 articles and 480 patients: 61 patients in the non-catamenial group and 419 patients in the catamenial group. The groups differed significantly in terms of presenting symptoms, surgical treatment techniques, and localization of endometriotic loci was observed (p <0.05). CONCLUSION This review points out the significant differences between TES patients with catamenial and non-catamenial symptoms. Such categorization and awareness by clinicians of these differences among TES patients by clinicians can be helpful in designing a management strategy. When constructing management guidelines, these differences between catamenial and non-catamenial patients should be taken into consideration.