Fertility after laparoscopic surgery for endometriomas

There are a number of published studies documenting pregnancy rates after endoscopic surgery in patients with endometriomas. These reports present similar pregnancy rates regardless of the surgical technique used to treat the cyst. This finding indicates that it does not matter whether the endometrioma is excised or ablated. However, debate about the nature of the cleavage plane of the cyst has led some surgeons to suggest that excision may damage the follicular reserve of the ovary. Furthermore, pregnancy rates after surgery cannot be compared in the same way as pregnancy rates after in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer because of lack of standardization. A review of the published studies relating to the laparoscopic management of endometriomas was performed to examine this issue further. Each paper was analysed using pre-set criteria to identify the methodology used and how the results were presented. Wide variation was found in the criteria used to select patients and in the way the results were reported. In view of these findings, there is an urgent need for surgical studies with consistent definitions of infertility and end-points, or a national system of audit.