Purpose: To evaluate the ovarian reserve after laparoscopic cystectomy with suturing in patients with endometriomas.
Methods: A total of 80 women with unilateral or bilateral endometriomas underwent laparoscopic cystectomy using sutures for hemostasis after the excision of ovarian cysts. Serum levels of antimullerian hormone (AMH) and FSH were measured at the day 3 of menstrual cycles preoperatively, 6 and 12 months postoperatively.
Results: In the bilateral endometrioma group, serum AMH level decreased significantly from the baseline (4.68 ± 2.87 ng/ml) to 6 months (3.05 ± 1.99 ng/ml) and 12 months (2.26 ± 1.88 ng/ml) postoperatively, whereas the FSH level increased significantly from baseline to 12 months postoperatively (P < 0.05). Those patients with unilateral endometriomas also had lower levels of AMH in 6 and 12 months after operation. When compared between unilateral and bilateral endometrioma group, the rate of AMH decline 6 and 12 months and the rate of FSH increase 12 months postoperatively reached statistical significance (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: The changes of the AMH and FSH values suggest that the ovarian reserve is obviously reduced in spite of suturing technology used as a method of hemostasis after stripping ovarian endometriomas, especially in those with bilateral cysts. The protective effect of the ovarian suturing for ovarian reserve may be marginal.
Keywords: Endometrioma; Laparoscopic cystectomy; Ovarian reserve.