Aim: To retrospectively assess the long-term outcome, including pregnancy rate, recurrence rate and ovarian reserve, after laser ablation surgery in infertile women with endometrioma.
Methods: From March 1997 to June 2007, 45 subfertile women underwent ablation surgery with a potassium-titanyl-phosphate laser for ovarian endometrioma. These patients were reviewed retrospectively.
Results: Of the 45 women, 22 became pregnant spontaneously. Among the 23 women who did not become pregnant after more than 6 months postoperatively, 16 elected to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF), 12 of them became pregnant. The remaining 11 women did not become pregnant. Eleven women had recurrence detected by ultrasound. The mean number of oocytes retrieved per cycle during IVF was 7.3 +/- 3.6 and 4.6 +/- 2.7 from the ovary treated by ablation surgery and the contralateral ovary, respectively.
Conclusion: The overall long-term pregnancy rate (combining spontaneous pregnancy and IVF) after laparoscopic ablation surgery for endometrioma was 75.6%. Surgery did not have any adverse effect on the ovarian reserve during subsequent IVF.