Endometriosis had a moment in the spotlight 18 months ago when, in the face of dogged campaigning by patient advocates, the Federal Government announced a national plan to improve care.

Startling statistics were acknowledged: one in 10 women experienced this painful disease, yet it took between seven and 12 years to achieve a diagnosis, on average.

Women told authorities that their menstrual pain was dismissed as normal, that doctors suggested having a baby would fix their problem, and if that didn’t work, a hysterectomy would.

At the time, there was loud questioning about how a condition so common and debilitating could be so apparently poorly handled. Well, a group of gynaecologists has finally supplied the answer to this: because it was benign.