Combined (hormonal and microsurgical) therapy in infertile women with endometriosis

Fifty patients with moderate or severe endometriosis received 5 mg/day lynestrenol for 6 months prior to microsurgery. A significant regression of the ovarian and peritoneal implants was observed in 72% of the cases after progestative treatment, but the presence of residual epithelium in all cases made surgical resection necessary. After preoperative medical treatment and microsurgery, intrauterine (living births) pregnancy rates of 60 and 47% were obtained in cases of moderate and severe endometriosis, respectively. The following prognostic factors were found in this series: the degree of endometriosis, the concomitant male factors, the decrease of endometriotic lesions after treatment, and the unilaterality of ovarian endometriosis.