Long-term reproductive performance after surgery for ovarian endometrioma.

Objective: To determine the long-term impact of different types of endometrioma surgery on reproductive performance and on age of menopause.

Study Design: This was a longitudinal observational cohort study of 68 women with previous endometrioma surgery and 68 age- and weight-matched healthy controls. All participants' hospital records were reviewed and each woman completed a questionnaire and attended an interview. Pregnancy rates were compared between the study and control groups. In the study group, pregnancy rates were compared before and after surgery.

Results: Amongst the 38 women desiring pregnancy after endometrioma surgery, 19 (50%) achieved a spontaneous pregnancy during the follow-up period. This was not significantly different from a pre-operative pregnancy rate of 48% (22/46). Of these 19 patients, four achieved another pregnancy with fertility treatment. An additional eight patients conceived only with the help of fertility treatment, giving an overall long-term post-operative pregnancy rate of 71% (27/38). These results were significantly lower (p=0.0001) than the 98% (57/58) long-term natural pregnancy rate in the control group. Pregnancy rates in patients receiving fertility treatment significantly (p=0.001) increased from 7% (1/15) before surgery to 63% (12/19) post-operatively. In post-menopausal women, the median (quartile) age at menopause was similar in the study (n=9) and control groups (n=6) [48 (45-52) versus 49 (44-52) years, respectively].

Conclusion: Endometriomas per se appear to be the main cause of the reduced long-term reproductive performance of the affected patients, with little or no contribution from surgery. Furthermore, endometrioma surgery seems to improve the success rates of fertility treatment.