At the time of my laparoscopy, my doctor was not able to get a biopsy. is the physical appearance of endometriosis adequate for diagnosis?

Biopsy endo: Endometriosis may look like many other things especially atypical endometriosis, for which reason a tissue diagnosis is very important to accurately diagnose the disease.

YES: Endometriosis symptoms and seeing tissue suspicious of it during a laparoscopy is adequate for a diagnosis. If it is not very severe, there will be less, endometrial tissue to biopys.

Generally: Biopsy is best but visual along with the typical symtpomatology is adequate. The most painful lesions, however, are not the most obvious & we can only see 65% of the endometriosis that may be present.

Not always: Excision of endometriosis is important for the diagnosis since other conditions (endosalpingiosis and hemosiderin deposits) look similar. You could be referred to a specialist who can do the resection.