Table 1.

A summery of the reviews' findings.

Review	Language of literature searched	Type of studies included	Quality assessment tool used in the review	Overall results	Application of results
Ness 2003 [7]	English	In vitro, animal, clinical, and epidemiologic studies	Not specified	Consistent with the association between endometriosis and ovarian cancer.	Possible chemoprevention for women with endometriosis.
Somigliana et al. 2006 [4]	English	Observational, cohort, and case-control	Studies have been critically analysed.	Increased risk of ovarian cancers: effect size: 1.3–1.9.	Modifications of the standard treatment options for the disease are not justifiable.
Vigano et al. 2007 [8]	English	Observational, cohort, and case-control epidemiologic, biological, and genetic studies	Nineriteria, by Austin Bradford Hill [13]	The criterion of strength has not been fulfilled. There were insufficient data for four criteria, and four criteria were fulfilled.	The low magnitude of the risk observed is consistent with the view that ectopic endometrium undergoes malignant transformation with a frequency similar to its eutopic counterpart.
Nezhat et al. 2008 [9]	English	Observational, cohort, and case-control epidemiologic, histopathological, and molecular studies	Not specified	Histological transition from benign endometriosis to ovarian malignancy.	The malignant potential of endometriosis holds serious implications for management.
Baldi et al. 2008 [10]	English	Not specified	Not specified	Further epidemiological and genetic studies are required.	Appropriate physical screening and imaging testing are recommended.
Vlahos et al. 2010 [11]	No search criteria specified	No search criteria specified	Not specified	Endometriosis is  associated with specific types of ovarian cancer (endometrioid and clear cell).	More studies are needed to establish the risk factors that may lead to malignant transformation.
Kobayashi 2010 [12]	English	Studies on screening, epidemiology, clinical diagnosis, natural history, preclinical and clinical trials, and promising molecular targets on epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).	Not specified	Ovarian endometrioma could be viewed as a neoplastic process.	Understanding the mechanisms of endometriosis development and elucidating its pathogenesis and pathophysiology are intrinsic to prevention.