Mild and moderate endometriosis. Comparison of treatment modalities for infertile couples.

The Journal of reproductive medicine · 1991 · vol. 36(3) , pp. 151–5 · PMID:1827652 · W137829228
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 38 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed
AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06

In infertile couples with mild to moderate endometriosis, laparoscopic laser treatment and conservative surgery yielded significantly higher pregnancy rates than expectant management, medical treatment, or laparoscopic cautery.

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

Abstract

A series of 1,268 consecutive patients with stage I and II endometriosis (American Fertility Society classification) were treated for the disease. In 675, no other factors contributed to their infertility. Among these patients, with no problems other than mild endometriosis, 57% (16/28) became pregnant when treated expectantly, 54% (51/95) after being treated medically, 47% (9/19) after laparoscopic cautery treatment, 81% (147/181) after laparoscopic laser treatment and 84% (97/116) after conservative surgery (laparotomy). Statistical analysis of the pregnancy rates revealed no difference between expectant, medical and laparoscopic cautery treatment. No difference was noted between laparotomy and laser laparoscopy; however, there was a statistically significant difference between these treatments and expectant, medical and cautery treatment. Similar results were seen with stage II endometriosis in couples with no contributing factors other than endometriosis: 39% of patients (23/59) became pregnant after medical treatment, 70% (80/115) after laser laparoscopy and 74% (46/62) after undergoing major conservative treatment (laparotomy). A statistically significant difference between medical treatment and laparotomy as well as laser laparoscopy was noted. However, no such difference existed between laparotomy and laser laparoscopy. Therefore, it appears that in experienced hands the use of laser laparoscopy in stage I and II endometriosis is as successful as major surgery and statistically significantly better than expectant, medical and laparoscopic cautery treatment.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Infertility, Female Uterine Neoplasms Adult Antineoplastic Agents Antineoplastic Agents Cautery Cautery Danazol Danazol Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Follow-Up Studies Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Laparoscopy Laparotomy Laser Therapy

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.

Cited by (38)

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: 2026-05-13T22:12:00.397535+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK