Patients with stages III and IV endometriosis have a poorer outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer than patients with tubal infertility

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the outcome of IVF in patients with stages III and IV endometriosis. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: The Sara Racine IVF Unit, Lis Maternity Hospital, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel. PATIENT(S): Fifty-eight patients with stages III and IV endometriosis and 60 patients with tubal infertility. INTERVENTION(S): IVF-ET for all couples. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Fertilization, pregnancy, and birth rates. RESULT(S): The comparison between patients with endometriosis and those with tubal infertility indicated that the former had a poor IVF outcome in terms of reduced fertilization rate (40% vs. 70%), reduced pregnancy rate per cycle (10.6% vs. 22.4%), and reduced birth rate per cycle (6.7% vs. 16.6%). The differences were statistically significant. CONCLUSION(S): The results show an unfavorable outcome of IVF-ET in patients with endometriosis when compared with those who have tubal infertility.