Although it seems straightforward enough, until recently no one had conducted an actual study to find out whether endometriosis does or does not spread throughout the pelvis with advancing age (it doesn't). It was just assumed that it did. This is another example of therapy being guided by opinions rather than facts. Experimental endometriosis in animals has also been shown not to spread geographically, and a 1991 pelvic mapping study from Belgium found that the peritoneal surface area involved by endometriosis does not increase as older age groups of patients are examined. The notion that endometriosis spreads throughout the pelvis like dandelions in a field is wrong and has contributed to irrational medical care for women with endometriosis.

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