Physiopathological Aspects of Corpus Luteum Defect in Infertile Patients with Mild/Minimal Endometriosis

João Sabino Cunha‐Filho, João Sabino Cunha-Filho, Jorge Luiz Gross, Carlos Aogusto Bastos de Souza, Carlos Augusto Bastos de Souza, Nadiane Albuquerque Lemos, Camila Giugliani, Fernando Freitas, Eduardo Pandolfi Passos
Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2003 · vol. 20(3) , pp. 117–121 · doi:10.1023/a:1022625106489 · PMID:12735387 · PMC3455587 · W2114378646
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 33 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF Full text JSON View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06+body, 2026-06-12 ⓘ

Infertile patients with mild/minimal endometriosis exhibit luteal insufficiency linked to small and large luteal cell dysfunction, evidenced by abnormal follicular phase estradiol and reduced progesterone secretion.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 · read from full text ⓘ

This case-control study investigated a physiopathological model for luteal phase defect in infertile patients with mild/minimal endometriosis who had normal early-follicular hormone measurements, compared with fertile controls with in-phase endometrium. Histologic endometrial dating was performed on cycle days 23–25, early follicular serum TSH, FSH, LH, prolactin, and estradiol were measured on day 3, and progesterone was measured at three points during the luteal phase. Women with out-of-phase endometrium showed lower estradiol levels and decreased progesterone secretion during the late luteal phase, while prolactin, TSH, FSH, and LH did not differ between groups; the authors attribute this pattern to dysfunction of both small and large luteal cells. The study is limited by its relatively small sample size. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses on corpus luteum defects and luteal phase insufficiency in infertile women with mild/minimal endometriosis.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Full text 6,476 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · 5 sections · click to expand

Abstract

Purpose: We describe a physiopathological model to the luteal insufficiency of infertile patients with mild/minimal endometriosis with normal hormone measurements in the early follicular phase.

Methods

We designed a case-control study with 24 patients, 14 fertile with in-phase endometrium (control group) and 10 infertile with mild/minimal endometriosis and luteal insufficiency (study group). The histologic dating of endometrium was performed during cycle days 23–25 and serum TSH, FSH, LH, prolactin, and estradiol levels were measured during the early follicular phase (cycle day 3). Progesterone serum levels were measured in three different occasions during the luteal phase.

Results

Patients with out-of-phase endometrium have lower estradiol levels (P = 0.031) and decreased progesterone secretion (P = 0.012) during the late luteal phase. Serum prolactin, TSH, FSH, and LH levels were similar between the groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusions

The physiopathology of luteal phase defect in infertile patients with mild/minimal endometriosis is associated with a small and large luteal cells dysfunction, characterized by abnormal follicular phase (lower estradiol serum levels) and lower progesterone LH-dependent secretion. Similar content being viewed by others

References

Jones GES: Some newer aspects of the management of infertility. JAMA 1949;141:1123–1129 Hinney B, Henze C, Kuhn W, Wuttke W: The corpus luteum insufficiency: A multifactorial disease. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1996;81:565–570 Ohara A, Mori T, Taii S, Ban C, Narimoto K: Functional differentiation in steroidogenesis of two types of luteal cells isolated from mature human corpora lutea of menstrual cycle. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1987;65:1192–1200 Cunha-Filho JS, Gross JL, Lemos NA, Brandelli A, Passos EP: Hyperprolactinemia and luteal phase insufficiency in infertile patients with mild and minimal endometriosis. Horm Metab Res 2001;33:216–20 Cahill DJ, Hull MGR: Pituitary-ovarian dysfunction and endometriosis. Hum Reprod Update 2000;6:56–66 Cahill DJ, Wardle PG, Maile LA, Harlow CR, Hull MGR: Ovarian dysfunction in endometriosis-associated and unexplained infertility. J Assist Reprod Genet 1997;14:554–557 Harlow CR, Cahill DJ, Maile LA, Talbot WM, Mears J, Wardle PG, Hull MGR: Reduced preovulatory granulose cell steroidogenesis in women with endometriosis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1996;8:426–429 Noyes RW, Hertig AT, Rock J: Dating the endometrial biopsy. Fertil Steril 1950;1:3–25 The American Fertility Society: Revised American Fertility Society classification for endometriosis. Fertil Steril 1985;43:351–352 Jordan J, Craig K, Clifton DK, Soules MR: Luteal phase defect: The sensisitivity and specificity of diagnostic methods in common clinical use. Fertil Steril 1994;62:54–62 Filicori M, Butler JP, Crowley WF: Neuroendocrine regulation of the corpus luteum in the human: Evidence for pulsatile progesterone secretion. J Clin Invest 1984;73:1638–1647 McNeely MJ, Soules MR: The diagnosis of luteal phase deficiency: A critical review. Fertil Steril 1988;50:1–15 Balash J, Vanrell JA, Creus M, Marquez M, Gonzalez-Merlo J: The endometrial biopsy for diagnosis of luteal phase deficiency. Fertil Steril 1985;44:699–701 Brosens IA, Koninckx PR, Corveleyn PA: A study of plasma progesterone, oestrediol-17β, PRL and LH levels, and of the luteal phase appearance of the ovaries in patients with endometriosis and infertility. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1978;85:246–250 Cheesman KL, Bem-Nun I, Chatterton RT, Cohen MR: Relationship of luteinizing hormone, pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, and estriol-16-glucuronide in urine of infertile women with endometriosis. Fertil Steril 1982;38:542–548 Williams CAV, Oak MK, Elstein M: Cycllical gonadotrophin and progesterone secretion in women with minimal endometriosis. Clin Reprod Fertil 1986;4:259–268 Bancroft K, Williams CAV, Elstein M: Pituitary-ovarian functioning in women with mild or minimal endometriosis and otherwise unexplained infertility. Clin Endocrinol 1992;36:177–181 Barry-Kinsella C, Sharma SC, Cottel E, Harrison RF: Mid to late luteal steroids in minimal stage endometriosis and unexplained infertility. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 1994;54:113–118 Matorras R, Rodrigues F, Pérez C, Pijoan JI, Neyro JL, Rodrígues Escudero FJ: Infertile women with and without endometriosis: A case control study of luteal phase and other infertility conditions. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 1996;75:826–831 Hargrove JT, Abraham GK: Abnormal luteal function in endometriosis. Fertil Steril 1980;34:302 Cheesman KL, Cheesman SD, Chatterton RT, Cohen MR: Alterations in progesterone metabolism and luteal function in infertile women with endometriosis. Fertil Steril 1980;40:590–595 Pittaway DE, Maxson W, Daniell J, Herbert C, Wentz AC: Luteal phase defects in infertile patients with endometriosis. Fertil Steril 1983;39:712–713 Ballash J, Vanrell JA: Mild endometriosis and luteal function. Int J Fertil 1985;30:4–6 Kusuhara K: Luteal function in infertile patients with endometriosis. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1992;167:274–277 Moeloeck FA, Moegny E: Endometriosis and luteal phase defect. Asia Oceania J Obstet Gynaecol 1993;19:171–176 Garcia-Velasco JA, Arici A: Is the endometrium or oocyte/embryo affected in endometriosis? Hum Reprod 1999;14:77–89 Witz CA, Burns WN: Endometriosis and infertility: Is there a cause and effect relationship? Gynecol Obstet Invest 2002;53:2–11 Lund SA, Murdoch J, Van Kirk EA, Murdoch WJ: Mitogenic and antioxidant mechanisms of estradiol action in preovulatory ovine follicles: Relevance to luteal function. Biol Reprod 1999;61:388–392 Soules MR, Clifton DK, Steiner RA, Cohen NL, Brenner WJ: The corpus luteum: Determinants of progesterone secretion in the normal menstrual cycle. Obstet Gynecol 1988;71:659–666 Cunha-Filho JS, Gross JL, Lemos NA, Dias EC, Vettori D, Souza CA, Passos EP: Prolactin and growth hormone secretion after thyrotrophin-releasing hormone infusion and dopaminergic (DA2) blockade in infertile patients with minimal/mild endometriosis. Hum Reprod 2002;17(4):960–965 Author information Authors and Affiliations Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Cunha-Filho, J.S., Gross, J.L., Bastos de Souza, C.A. et al. Physiopathological Aspects of Corpus Luteum Defect in Infertile Patients with Mild/Minimal Endometriosis. J Assist Reprod Genet 20, 117–121 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022625106489 Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022625106489

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Corpus Luteum Endometriosis Infertility, Female Corpus Luteum Endometriosis Estradiol Estradiol Female Humans Infertility, Female

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (37)

Cited by (33)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-16T06:07:01.518242+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:12:50.257867+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK