Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T06:06:55.668Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

21B - Infertile Patients with Endometriosis Benefit from Surgery

Against

from Section III - The Best Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2021

Roy Homburg
Affiliation:
Homerton University Hospital, London
Adam H. Balen
Affiliation:
Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine
Robert F. Casper
Affiliation:
Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto
Get access

Summary

Operative laparoscopy has been regarded as a viable and evidence-based option for endometriosis-related infertility. However, not all studies support this conclusion and the recent synthesis of high-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in a meta-analysis suggests operative laparoscopy may not be effective at improving fertility-related outcomes when compared to diagnostic laparoscopy (i.e. expectant management) in patients with endometriosis-related infertility. Only one RCT assesses the outcome of live birth rate (LBR) as a primary outcome, which was comparable in both groups (operative (10/51;19.6%) versus diagnostic (10/45;22.2%)) laparoscopy (relative risk (RR) 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40–1.92; very low-quality evidence). Pregnancy rate was assessed as a primary outcome in four RCTs where patients underwent operative (91/316;28.8%) or diagnostic (62/308;20.1%) laparoscopy (RR 1.38, 95%CI 0.99-1.92). Though the evidence is of moderate quality, there is insufficient evidence of a difference between the groups. There are no RCTs comparing operative laparoscopy to assisted reproductive technologies.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Meuleman, C, Vandenabeele, B, Fieuws, S, Spiessens, C, Timmerman, D, D’Hooghe, T. High prevalence of endometriosis in infertile women with normal ovulation and normospermic partners. Fertil Steril. 2009;92:6874.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duffy, J, Arambage, K, Correa, F, et al. Laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014:79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonardi, M, Gibbons, T, Armour, M, et al. When to do surgery and when not to do surgery for endometriosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2020;27:390407.e3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lalani, S, Choudhry, AJ, Firth, B, et al. Endometriosis and adverse maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes, a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod. 2018;33:1854–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moini, A, Bahar, L, Ashrafinia, M, Eslami, B, Hosseini, R, Ashrafinia, N. Fertility outcome after operative laparoscopy versus no treatment in infertile women with minimal or mild endometriosis. Int J Fertil Steril. 2012;5:235–40.Google ScholarPubMed
Parazzini, F, Fedele, L, Busacca, M, et al. Postsurgical medical treatment of advanced endometriosis: results of a randomized clinical trial. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1994;171(5):1205–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcoux, S, Maheux, R, Bérubé, S. Laparoscopic surgery in infertile women with minimal or mild endometriosis. Canadian Collaborative Group on Endometriosis. N Eng J Med. 1997;337(4):217–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×