Is the endometrium or oocyte/embryo affected in endometriosis?

J A Garcia-Velasco, Juan A. García-Velasco, A Arici, Aydın Arıcı
Human Reproduction · 1999 · vol. 14(suppl 2) , pp. 77–89 · doi:10.1093/humrep/14.suppl_2.77 · PMID:10690803 · W2114382676
review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 56 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This review analyzes recent literature on how endometriosis may affect endometrial receptivity and oocyte/embryo quality, potentially causing infertility.

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

Abstract

One of the most puzzling problems of endometriosis is determining which mechanisms link this spectrum of conditions to infertility. There is conflicting evidence about the effect of endometriosis on the endometrium and on oocyte/embryo quality. Clinical studies reveal that implantation rates seem to be lower in women with endometriosis, while spontaneous abortion rates show variable results which are difficult to interpret due to the design of the studies. Biochemical markers (integrins and other cell adhesion molecules), morphological markers (pinopodes), apoptosis and ultrasound studies confirm that not only does the endometrium from women with endometriosis behave differently from the endometrium of women without endometriosis, but ectopic endometrium also behaves differently from eutopic endometrium. Data from oocyte donation programmes suggest that oocyte quality may be hampered in women with endometriosis. Recent reports have focused on the molecular mechanisms that may be altered, such as ovarian steroid production, or inadequate luteal function. In this review, we analyse the most recent literature dealing with the different mechanisms which affect the endometrium and oocyte/embryo quality and which thereby might cause infertility.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Embryo, Mammalian Endometriosis Endometrium Oocytes Abortion, Spontaneous Abortion, Spontaneous Embryo Implantation Embryo, Mammalian Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Female Humans Oocytes Pregnancy Pregnancy Complications

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 (100)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:13:41.710148+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK