Endometriosis and infertility

Hyun-Jin Kim; Sung-Hoon Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2019.62.10.519

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 62(10); 2019 > Article

Kim and Kim: Endometriosis and infertility

Focused Issue of This Month

Endometriosis

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2019; 62(10): 519-524.

Published online: October 11, 2019

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2019.62.10.519

Endometriosis and infertility

Hyun-Jin Kim, MD

, Sung-Hoon Kim, MD

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Sung-Hoon Kim. kimsung@amc.seoul.kr

Received September 04, 2019 Accepted September 28, 2019

Korean Medical Association

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects 10% to 15% of all women of reproductive age. Several studies show an association between endometriosis and infertility; however, clear causality remains unproven. The association between endometriosis and infertility is attributable to distorted pelvic anatomy secondary to adhesions, altered endocrine and ovarian function, impaired uterine implantation, and poor quality of oocytes/embryos. Medical treatment shows limited efficacy, without any evidence to support its role in improving fertility. Surgical treatment can improve ongoing pregnancy rates in minimal-to-mild endometriosis, although this approach may cause inevitable ovarian injury in women with ovarian endometrioma. Tailored treatment should be used in women with infertility and endometriosis. Age, ovarian reserve, a history of ovarian surgery, and bilateral endometriomas are important factors that should be carefully considered in these cases.

Endometriosis; Infertility; Ovarian reserve; Surgical treatment; Assisted reproductive technology

Notes

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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