Endometriosis occurs when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus, causing pain, inflammation, and sometimes infertility. It affects roughly one in ten women of reproductive age. Current treatment relies on hormonal suppression, pain management, and surgery to remove visible lesions, but symptoms often return.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing GnRH antagonists that lower estrogen without triggering menopause-like side effects, drugs that target nerve pathways driving pain, and approaches to preserving fertility. Researchers are also studying whether endometriosis shares mechanisms with inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, which could open new treatment routes.
GnRH antagonists
Newer drugs like elagolix and relugolix lower estrogen enough to suppress endometriosis but cause fewer hot flashes and bone loss than older GnRH agonists. Studies are testing whether they can be used longer-term.
Non-hormonal pain targets
Some trials are testing drugs that block nerve growth factor or inflammatory signals driving pain, aiming to relieve symptoms without shutting down ovarian function. This could help people who can't tolerate hormonal treatment or want to conceive.
Biomarker research
Researchers are looking for blood or imaging markers that could diagnose endometriosis without surgery. Earlier diagnosis might allow treatment before severe scarring develops.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on whether endometriosis has been confirmed by surgery, pain severity, prior treatments tried, and whether you're trying to conceive.
What types of trials are currently open
- Hormonal treatment trials — Testing new GnRH antagonists, progestins, or combined approaches to suppress endometriosis with fewer side effects than current options.
- Pain management trials — Testing non-hormonal drugs that target pain pathways, including nerve growth factor inhibitors and inflammatory mediators.
- Surgical technique studies — Comparing different surgical approaches to remove endometriosis lesions and studying whether complete excision leads to longer-lasting relief.
- Fertility trials — Testing treatments that preserve or improve fertility in women with endometriosis, often in combination with assisted reproduction.
- Natural history studies — Following women with endometriosis over time to understand how the disease progresses and what predicts response to treatment.
Recently added Endometriosis trials
Donate tissue samples to improve endometriosis diagnosis
This study hypothesizes that the histological, immunophenotypic, and molecular characterization of atypical endometriotic lesions may be related to specific clinical and ultrasound features.Identifying potentially atypical lesions would allow for more accurate stratification of patients, distinguishing definitely benign from potentially atypical endometriosis. The targeted study of endometriosis, both typical and atypical, also with reference to the inflammatory microenvironment, as well as immunophenotypic and molecular characteristics, could allow the formulation of pathogenic hypotheses on the development and progression of atypia towards malignant neoplasms.
Try personalized daily exercises adapted to your pain levels
WorkoutCPP is a pilot study evaluating the feasibility of a personalized exercise recommendation system for individuals with chronic pelvic pain disorders (CPPDs). The study uses reinforcement learning (RL), a type of artificial intelligence that adapts recommendations over time based on each participant's reported pain levels, symptom burden, and exercise compliance. Participants receive daily exercise recommendations that alternate between standard, non-personalized guidance and personalized, RL-generated recommendations across four 2-week phases, allowing within-person comparison of outcomes under each condition. The primary hypothesis is that an RL-based adaptive recommendation system is feasible to deliver in a CPPD population.
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