Pituitary-ovarian dysfunction as a cause for endometriosis-associated and unexplained infertility

David J Cahill, Cahill DJ, D J Cahill, Wardle PG, Peter G. Wardle, P G Wardle, Maile LA, L A Maile, Laura A. Maile, Christopher R. Harlow, C. R. Harlow, Harlow CR, M G Hull, Hull MG, M.G.R. Hull
Human Reproduction · 1995 · vol. 10(12) , pp. 3142–3146 · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.humrep.a135876 · PMID:8822432 · W1934767921
Observational OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 43 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-17 ⓘ

This study found that endometriosis and unexplained infertility are associated with a longer follicular phase, reduced estrogen, and impaired LH surges compared to controls, suggesting a shared pathophysiology.

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

Abstract

This study examines circulating and follicular hormone concentrations and fertilization of oocytes in cycles totally unperturbed by exogenous gonadotrophins in 10 women (25 cycles) with untreated minimal-mild endometriosis and nine women (23 cycles) with prolonged unexplained infertility compared with 16 women (50 cycles) with tubal damage as functional controls. Endometriosis was associated with a significantly longer follicular phase (median 15, 12, 13 days respectively) and reduced oestrogen secretion (median index area under the curve 3063, 3842, 3805 units respectively) compared with controls. Both endometriosis and unexplained infertility had significantly reduced serum luteinizing hormone (LH) surges [median peak serum (LH) 43, 39, 55 IU/l respectively and median area under the curve 661, 687, 823 units respectively] and reduced LH concentrations in follicular fluid (median 19.6, 10.6, 9.2 IU/l respectively). These findings suggest that infertility associated with minor endometriosis and of apparently unexplained aetiology share a common pathophysiology in impaired LH surge secretion. Whether that represents a primary pituitary disorder or is secondary to a defective ovarian signal is discussed.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Ovary Pituitary Gland Adult Adult Case-Control Studies Case-Control Studies Endometriosis Endometriosis Estradiol Estradiol Estradiol Female Female Fertilization Fertilization Fertilization

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

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. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (21)

Cited by (43)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-14T06:08:39.101224+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:59:55.756364+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-13T06:25:51.201866+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK