Preface

#### **Dedication**

#### **We dedicate this book to thousands of women all over the world suffering from endometriosis**

Endometriosis is a progressive debilitating disease affecting the physical, social and psychological aspects of normal life quality in nearly 1 of 7 women of reproductive age. Endometriosis is considered to be an enigmatic disease owing to the lack of specific set of symptoms, poorly understood pathogenesis, complexity in diagnosis and limited therapeutic options available for management of the disorder. The last three decades we have witnessed a significant volume of research related to endometriosis. We felt the need to bring together contributions of experts working on pathophysiology, diagnosis and therapeutic aspects of endometriosis. We genuinely hope that the readers will enjoy reading these informative articles contributed by eminent clinicians and scientists. We, as editors, would sincerely feel rewarded if the readers put to use the contents of the book to alleviate the pain and misery of women suffering from endometriosis, a disease which still remains a challenge.

We sincerely appreciate the valuable contributions of all the authors who have put in considerable effort to make the book a success. We are grateful to Dr. Ashalatha Ganesh for providing her expert opinion and valuable suggestions. We are most thankful to InTech publisher for providing us with an opportunity to edit a book of such great clinical relevance. Finally, our sincere thanks to Bojan Rafaj, Publishing Process Manager for the excellent support extended to us throughout the editing process.

> **Koel Chaudhury** (Editor) Associate Professor School of Medical Science and Technology Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur India

**Baidyanath Chakravarty** (Co-editor) Director Institute of Reproductive Medicine Salt Lake, Kolkata India

**Section 1** 

**Endometriosis** 
