In vitro fertilization in patients with ovarian endometriomas

Objective. The objective of the study was to establish whether operative tr eatment of recurrent ovarian endometriosis improves the prognosis of in vit ro fertilization. Methods and material. A retrospective analysis of one hundred endometriosis patients admitted to Tampere University Hospital for IVF treatment. Forty- five patients had an ovarian endometrioma during IVF treatment, 36 of the c ases being recurrences after a previous operation. Fifty-five patients had ovarian endometriomas operated without recurrence. The patient groups with or without endometriosis did not differ in age, duration of infertility, sp erm parameters, amount of gonadotropins required per oocyte and number of r etrieved oocytes. Results. The patients with ovarian endometriosis had more embryos (mean 3.9 ) than women without endometriomas (mean 2.8) (p<0.05) and the respective p regnancy rates per IVF cycle were 38% and 22%. Patients with endometriomas had a live birth rate of 27% compared with 20% in women with no endometriom as. Conclusions. The presence of a small endometrioma does not reduce the succe ss of IVF treatment.