Long‐term evaluation of painful symptoms and fertility after surgery for large rectovaginal endometriosis nodule: a retrospective study

Nicolas Bourdel, Aurélie Comptour, Paméla Bouchet, Anne-Sophie Gremeau, Anne‐Sophie Grémeau, Jean‐Luc Pouly, Jean-Luc Pouly, Karem Slim, K. Slim, Bruno Pereira, Michel Canis
Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2017 · vol. 97(2) , pp. 158–167 · doi:10.1111/aogs.13260 · PMID:29143306 · W2769476308
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 23 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Rectal shaving and colorectal resection for large rectovaginal endometriosis nodules yield similar long-term improvements in pain and fertility, with shaving associated with fewer complications.

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

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Optimal surgical treatment of rectovaginal endometriosis remains a controversial topic. The objective of this study was to evaluate long-term postoperative outcomes after rectal shaving or colorectal resection for rectovaginal endometriosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 195 patients underwent surgery (172 managed by shaving, 23 by colorectal resection) between January 2000 and June 2013 for rectovaginal endometriosis (>2 cm) involving at least the serosa of the rectum. Primary outcome measures were pain and fertility. Secondary outcome measures were complications, recurrence rates and quality of life. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 60 ± 42 months in the shaving group and 67 ± 47 months in the resection group. The mean VAS score for pelvic pain between the pre and postoperative period decreased from 5.5 ± 3.5 (shaving group) and 7.3 ± 2.9 (resection group) to 2.3 ± 2.4 (p < 0.001) and 2.0 ± 1.8 (p < 0.001), respectively. For dysmenorrhea, the mean baseline VAS score fell postoperatively from 7.7 ± 2.8 (shaving group) and 8.2 ± 2.6 (resection group) to 3.3 ± 2.9 (p < 0.001) and 2.7 ± 2.7 (p < 0.001), respectively. Pregnancy rates were 73% for shaving and 69% for resection. Major complications occurred in 4% of patients in the shaving group and in 26% in the resection group (p = 0.001). Thirteen patients (7.6%) from the shaving group and none from the resection group were reoperated for suspicion of endometriosis recurrence (p = 0.37). Postoperative quality of life scores revealed no differences between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that rectal shaving, when feasible for rectovaginal nodule (>2 cm) infiltrating the digestive serosa, has equal impact on pain and pregnancy rates compared with colorectal resection at long-term follow-up, with low complication and favorable pregnancy rates.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Outcome instruments

VAS-pain

Condition tags

endometriosisbowel_endometriosisdysmenorrhea

MeSH descriptors

Digestive System Surgical Procedures Endometriosis Laser Therapy Postoperative Pain Quality of Life Digestive System Surgical Procedures Digestive System Surgical Procedures Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Follow-Up Studies Humans Laser Therapy Laser Therapy Postoperative Pain Quality of Life Recovery of Function Retrospective Studies Treatment Outcome

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 (25)

Cited by (23)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-11T06:19:48.454388+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:20:07.505861+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK