Multi-disciplinary centres/networks of excellence for endometriosis management and research: a proposal

Abstract

Centres/networks of excellence are the only way forward to ensure that women with endometriosis receive consistent, evidence-based care, ensuring excellence, continuity of care, multi-disciplinarity, research, training and cost-effectiveness. Clinical excellence should be achieved by proper training, adherence to evidence-based guidelines, quality management and continuous measurement of patient outcome as a central focus. To ensure continuity of care, the first step is to assign to each patient a central gynaecologist who must have continuously updated knowledge regarding all diagnostic and management options for endometriosis and who must set priorities and realistic expectations together with the woman using a long-term multi-disciplinary treatment plan. Scientific research within and scientific collaboration between centres/networks of excellence will create the critical mass of patients and tissue samples that is needed to make progress. Centres/networks of excellence should be accredited as training centres by professional bodies. They should aim at improving the cost-effectiveness of the management of endometriosis by a reduction in the time to diagnosis, a reduction in the time before individualized specialist care is invoked, a reduction of expensive hit-and-miss treatments and a reduction in expensive fertility treatments, if the disease is under control before fertility is impaired.