From conception to birth - how endometriosis affects the development of each stage of reproductive life.

L F P Carvalho, Luiz Fernando Pina Carvalho, R Rossener, Rebecca Rossener, Ali Azeem, A Azeem, Helena Malvezzi, H Malvezzi, Maurício Simões Abrão, M Simões Abrão, A Agarwal, Ashok Agarwal
Minerva ginecologica · 2013 · vol. 65(2) , pp. 181–98 · PMID:23598783 · W271066968
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 19 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review examines how endometriosis may impair fertility, pregnancy, and birth by affecting folliculogenesis, oocyte and sperm quality, fertilization, embryo development, implantation, and increasing risks of miscarriage and preterm delivery.

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Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that female infertility is associated with endometriosis. Indeed, 40% of women with this disease are infertile. However, a causal relationship has not yet been established, and the possible pathophysiology of infertility in this disease also has not been completely elucidated. In this article, we analyze the mechanisms necessary to achieve a successful live birth in patients with this disease as well as the important steps of fertility, pregnancy and birth that can be impaired in these women. Specifically, we will review new advances in research on folliculogenesis, oocyte quality and sperm quality, egg fertilization, embryo quality, transport through fallopian tube and utero-tubal transport sperm, implantation defects, risk of miscarriage, risk during pregnancy and pre-term delivery. The physiopathology of these alterations and the clinical results of the studies are still very controversial. For these reasons, we can conclude that more research is needed to study the biological pathways of the fertility impairment caused by this disease.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Fertilization Genital Diseases, Female Parturition Abortion, Spontaneous Abortion, Spontaneous Embryo Implantation Embryo, Mammalian Embryo, Mammalian Endometriosis Female Genital Diseases, Female Hemoperitoneum Hemoperitoneum Humans Ovarian Follicle Ovarian Follicle Ovum Transport Pregnancy Premature Birth

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 (89)

Cited by (19)

Source provenance

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