World Congress of Endometriosis May 14 London, England

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Dr. Larry Demco: "I'd like to introduce Dr. Sutton who's from London, England. I'd like to ask him about the upcoming World Congress of Endometriosis. Dr. Sutton, could you please give us a little background about the World Congress of Endometriosis?"

Professor Christopher Sutton: "My name is Professor Chris Sutton. I'm the Professor of Gynecological Surgery at the University of Surrey in England. I'm on the Organizing Committee of the 'World Congress of Endometriosis: Endometriosis 2000,' which is being held in London on the 14th of May for three days, I believe. It's a gathering of anyone throughout the world who has a particular interest or expertise in endometriosis, and this includes not only surgeons and physicians but also a lot of basic scientists. The emphasis this year is not so much on the surgery as such, although we'll feature that. It's mainly on the molecular background, new advances, and particularly on the various new therapies like immune modulators and anti-angiogenesis drugs which I think is going to take the treatment of endometriosis forward in the next millennium."

Dr. Larry Demco: "Could you give us a little bit about endometriosis itself and what advantages there would be to have all of these world experts get together to share their knowledge? What do you think the future for endometriosis will be?"

Professor Christopher Sutton: "I think the main problem with endometriosis is that up to now, we really have no idea why it happens. Is it really getting more frequent? Are we seeing more of this deep infiltrating, very painful type of disease? A lot of people think so, but the real problem is that we still don't really know what causes it. I think there are now starting to be major breakthroughs, especially in molecular biology, and I think that's what's going to be interesting in this conference. We're going to see a completely new way of thinking about it."

Dr. Larry Demco: "That sounds refreshing. What do you see on the surgery side, in view of endometriosis?"

Professor Christopher Sutton: "At the very beginning of the meeting, we're having a workshop which is really going to be a think tank on the surgical treatment. Basically, we're getting as many of the top people as are coming to meet together at the Chelsea and Westminister Hospital just before the opening ceremony on Sunday morning. We're all going to put our heads together and try and work out which way surgery, in particular, is going to go in the next few years."

Dr. Larry Demco: "What's your opinion about the medical role for endometriosis?"

Professor Christopher Sutton: "I think right now it's been rather disappointing because although it does suppress the disease, in the vast majority of cases it seems to come back again once the medication has stopped. So I think the type of medicine or drug therapy you have at the moment will probably fade in insignificance, compared with the surgical approach. And then I think a whole new generation of drugs which actually looks at it completely differently will come into being, probably within the next fifteen years."

Dr. Larry Demco: "I'd like to thank you, Dr. Sutton, for getting these experts together to get them to share their ideas through your work with organizing the World Congress of Endometriosis. All of us, patients and physicians, would like to thank you very much."

Professor Christopher Sutton: "Thank you."