The relationship between laparoscopic disease, pelvic pain and infertility; an unbiased assessment

J G Thornton, Jim Thornton, Stephen Morley, S Morley, Morley S, J Lilleyman, Janet Lilleyman, Lilleyman J, Onwude JL, J L Onwude, Joseph Onwude, I Currie, I.C. Currie, Currie I, A C Crompton, Crompton AC
European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology · 1997 · vol. 74(1) , pp. 57–62 · doi:10.1016/s0301-2115(97)00082-1 · PMID:9243204 · W1985673882
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 23 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study objectively assesses the connection between laparoscopic findings, pelvic pain, and infertility.

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

Abstract

ObjectivesTo measure the relationship between laparoscopically detected pelvic pathology and pelvic pain or infertility.MethodsWomen undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy either for the investigation of pelvic pain, for sterilisation or for the investigation of infertility were studied. The indication for surgery was recorded before laparoscopy. At operation a series of 35-mm slide photographs were taken of the pelvis and later scored by two independent assessors without knowledge of the indication for surgery.ResultsSatisfactory photographs were obtained in 298 women. Minimal endometriosis was not associated with pain (adjusted OR 1.3; 0.5-2.8), although moderate disease was non-significantly so (2.5; 0.4-7.1). Severe disease was significantly more common and never occurred in patients being sterilised (P = 0.02). The odds of pain were not increased in the presence of dilated veins > 9 mm diameter (OR 1.1; 0.4-3.2) or adhesions (OR 0.6; 0.2-4.7). The odds of infertility were non-significantly increased in the presence of minimal and moderate endometriosis (OR 2.0; 0.8-5.3, and OR 4.2; 0.6-25 respectively) and again significantly more common in the presence of advanced disease (P = 0.002). The odds of infertility tended to be lower in the presence of severely dilated veins (OR 0.2; 0.032-1.2). There was no clear effect of adhesions (OR 0.9; 0.1-5.9).ConclusionsThe long established associations between severe endometriosis and pelvic pain, and between endometriosis in general and infertility are confirmed. However there is little or no association between minimal endometriosis, pelvic adhesions or dilated pelvic veins and pain. Previously reported associations may have been an artefact of the surgeon's knowledge of the indication for operation when assessing the pelvis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_paininfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Infertility, Female Laparoscopy Pelvic Pain Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Infertility, Female Observer Variation Odds Ratio Pelvic Pain Pelvis Pelvis Tissue Adhesions Tissue Adhesions Vasodilation

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 (27)

Cited by (23)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-07-28T06:14:09.330459+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:10:46.468712+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK