CYCLE FECUNDITY IN BABOONS OF PROVEN FERTILITY WITH MINIMAL ENDOMETRIOSIS

To the best of our knowledge this is the first prospective study in no nhuman primates of proven fertility in the wild, which compares fertil ity between animals with spontaneous minimal endometriosis and those w ith a normal pelvis. During 7 months 13 female baboons were exposed to males and all pregnancies were terminated by hysterotomy. A diagnosti c laparoscopy was performed to assess the presence of pelvic endometri osis at the end of the fertility trial. Sixty-one percent of the baboo ns became pregnant at least once and the cycle fecundity was 21%. No o bvious difference was found between baboons with (n = 7) and without e ndometriosis (n = 6) in either pregnancy rate (57 and 67%, respectivel y) or cycle fecundity(l8 and 24%, respectively). These data suggest th at in baboons with spontaneous minimal endometriosis the cycle fecundi ty is not grossly reduced.