Endometriosis-Associated Infertility

In: Infertility and Assisted Reproduction · 2008 · pp. 302–308 · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511547287.035 · W1642518890
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Endometriosis-associated infertility may result from pelvic inflammation and scarring, with treatment options including GnRH agonists prior to IVF/ICSI, surgery for anatomical distortion, or clomiphene citrate with IUI for surgically corrected cases.

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Abstract

This chapter illustrates the different opinions regarding the pathophysiology and management of endometriosis-associated infertility. Pelvic inflammation due to endometriosis may cause adhesion formation and scarring, which leads to a disruption and decrease in fertility. Medical treatment using GnRH agonists can only be used prior to in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). When moderate or severe endometriosis causes anatomic distortion of the pelvis in women who wish to maintain or restore fertility, surgery may be the treatment of choice. Clomiphene citrate and intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatment triple the monthly fecundity rate from 3.3 to 9.5 percent, as compared with nontreatment cycles, in patients with surgically corrected endometriosis. If laparoscopic surgery will be performed before IVF-ICSI cycles, a less invasive and conservative technique should be used during the operation such as cyst aspiration or fenestration.
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- Frontmatter - Contents - Contributors - Foreword - Preface - Introduction - PART I PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION - PART II INFERTILITY EVALUATION AND TREATMENT - 6 Evaluation of the Infertile Female - 7 Fertiloscopy - 8 Microlaparoscopy - 9 Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologic Laparoscopy - 10 Laparoscopic Tubal Anastomosis - 11 Tubal Microsurgery versus Assisted Reproduction - 12 The Future of Operative Laparoscopy for Infertility - 13 Operative Hysteroscopy for Uterine Septum - 14 Laser in Subfertility - 15 Ultrasonography of the Endometrium for Infertility - 16 Ultrasonography of the Cervix - 17 Transrectal Ultrasonography in Male Infertility - 18 The Basic Semen Analysis: Interpretation and Clinical Application - 19 Evaluation of Sperm Damage: Beyond the WHO Criteria - 20 Male Factor Infertility: State of the ART - 21 Diagnosis and Treatment of Male Ejaculatory Dysfunction - 22 Ovulation Induction - 23 Clomiphene Citrate for Ovulation Induction - 24 Aromatase Inhibitors for Assisted Reproduction - 25 Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics of Gonadotrophins - 26 The Future of Gonadotrophins: Is There Room for Improvement? - 27 Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome - 28 Reducing the Risk of High-Order Multiple Pregnancy Due to Ovulation Induction - 29 Hyperprolactinemia - 30 Medical Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - 31 Surgical Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - 32 Endometriosis-Associated Infertility - 33 Medical Management of Endometriosis - 34 Reproductive Surgery for Endometriosis-Associated Infertility - 35 Congenital Uterine Malformations and Reproduction - 36 Unexplained Infertility - 37 “Premature Ovarian Failure”: Characteristics, Diagnosis, and Management - PART III ASSISTED REPRODUCTION - PART IV ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN FERTILITY AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTION - Index - Plate section - References from PART II - INFERTILITY EVALUATION AND TREATMENT Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010 Book contents - Frontmatter - Contents - Contributors - Foreword - Preface - Introduction - PART I PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION - PART II INFERTILITY EVALUATION AND TREATMENT - 6 Evaluation of the Infertile Female - 7 Fertiloscopy - 8 Microlaparoscopy - 9 Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologic Laparoscopy - 10 Laparoscopic Tubal Anastomosis - 11 Tubal Microsurgery versus Assisted Reproduction - 12 The Future of Operative Laparoscopy for Infertility - 13 Operative Hysteroscopy for Uterine Septum - 14 Laser in Subfertility - 15 Ultrasonography of the Endometrium for Infertility - 16 Ultrasonography of the Cervix - 17 Transrectal Ultrasonography in Male Infertility - 18 The Basic Semen Analysis: Interpretation and Clinical Application - 19 Evaluation of Sperm Damage: Beyond the WHO Criteria - 20 Male Factor Infertility: State of the ART - 21 Diagnosis and Treatment of Male Ejaculatory Dysfunction - 22 Ovulation Induction - 23 Clomiphene Citrate for Ovulation Induction - 24 Aromatase Inhibitors for Assisted Reproduction - 25 Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics of Gonadotrophins - 26 The Future of Gonadotrophins: Is There Room for Improvement? - 27 Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome - 28 Reducing the Risk of High-Order Multiple Pregnancy Due to Ovulation Induction - 29 Hyperprolactinemia - 30 Medical Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - 31 Surgical Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - 32 Endometriosis-Associated Infertility - 33 Medical Management of Endometriosis - 34 Reproductive Surgery for Endometriosis-Associated Infertility - 35 Congenital Uterine Malformations and Reproduction - 36 Unexplained Infertility - 37 “Premature Ovarian Failure”: Characteristics, Diagnosis, and Management - PART III ASSISTED REPRODUCTION - PART IV ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN FERTILITY AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTION - Index - Plate section - References INTRODUCTION Endometriosis is a common pathological process that mostly occurs in the female pelvis. Despite a long history of clinical experience and experimental research, the pathogenesis and management of endometriosis still have a lot of uncertainty. Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecologic diseases affecting fertility potential of women. The prevalence of endometriosis in infertile women ranges from 20 to 55 percent, as compared with 2–5 percent of women undergoing tubal ligation (1, 2). This correlation has led many investigators and clinicians to the assumption that there is a causal relationship between these two entities. There is still no definite answer to the question concerning why patients with endometriosis have subfertility. Several explanations have been proposed for the etiology of infertility of patients with endometriosis. The most straightforward one is anatomical distortion present in advanced disease. However, affected women who have functional, patent tubes, with no anatomic distortion, may also be associated with infertility. Several others possibilities have been suggested, related to immunologic defects and altered characteristics of peritoneal fluid involving cytokines and macrophages, which may affect fertility by means of altered folliculogenesis, ovulatory dysfunction, reduced preovulatory steroidogenesis of granulosa cells, sperm phagocytosis, and impaired fertilization (3). We do not expect to clarify these enigmas completely in this chapter, but we will try to illustrate different opinions regarding the pathophysiology and management of endometriosis-associated infertility according to the current knowledge. - Type - Chapter - Information - Infertility and Assisted Reproduction , pp. 302 - 308Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008 Endometriosis and infertility: a laparoscopic study of endometriosis among fertile and infertile women. Fertil Steril 1982;38: 667–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed , , , . 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