Pain like that of labor or a heart attack – this is what we suffer every month. About one in ten women has this disease. Nevertheless, it is still not fully understood how endometriosis develops. Doctors suspect that during menstruation, blood flows back through the fallopian tubes into the abdominal cavity. This blood contains cells from the uterine lining, which then settle outside the uterus in the abdominal cavity. These blockages can cause severe pain.
Endometriosis is incurable. Hormone therapy, such as the pill, or surgical removal of the growths can currently help to alleviate the symptoms. However, neither treatment option is satisfactory: the side effects of the pill have long been criticized and surgery is always associated with risks – and the growths grow back.
But thanks to the new invention of a research team from Switzerland, this could soon change: Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) have succeeded in developing an implant that
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