Treatment of Endometriosis in Women Desiring Fertility

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This review discusses surgical and assisted reproduction options for women with endometriosis who desire fertility, with treatment choice dependent on disease stage and couple characteristics.

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This paper is a narrative review describing the evidence and current practice for managing endometriosis in women who desire fertility, focusing on how treatment choices relate to disease stage and couple-specific factors. It summarizes key options discussed in the literature, including surgery and assisted reproduction techniques, alongside major areas of evidence such as outcomes after conservative surgical treatment, ovulation suppression, and the effects of endometrioma surgery on ovarian reserve and IVF outcomes. The paper explicitly notes that it does not include clinical studies or patient data, functioning instead as a synthesis of prior research. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it reviews treatment strategies for women with endometriosis who want fertility.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a common condition affecting a significant proportion of women in their reproductive age. Apart from the impact of endometriosis on the quality of life of these patients, it also can have an impact on the potential of these women to have a family. The options for treating women with endometriosis desiring a family include surgery or assisted reproduction techniques. The choice of treatment will depend on the stage of disease and the characteristics of the couple seeking help. We review here the latest evidence on the management of endometriosis in women desiring fertility and describe our current practice. Similar content being viewed by others

References

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Is there a critical endometrioma size associated with reduced ovarian responsiveness in assisted reproduction techniques? Reprod BioMed Online. 2014;. doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2014.04.019. Opøien H, Fedorcsak P, Byholm T, et al. Complete surgical removal of minimal and mild endometriosis improves outcome of subsequent IVF/ICSI treatment. Reprod Biomed Online. 2011;23:389–95. Compliance with ethical requirements and Conflict of interest The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data. Mavrelos D and Saridogan E declare that they have no conflict of interest. Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Mavrelos, D., Saridogan, E. Treatment of Endometriosis in Women Desiring Fertility. J Obstet Gynecol India 65, 11–16 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-014-0652-y Received: Accepted: Published: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-014-0652-y

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