[Endometriosis and sterility: whom to treat and how?]

The difficulty in evaluating the efficacy of treatments for endometriosis in terms of sterility results from the frequent confusion between the inhibition of the natural progression of endometriosis and a beneficial effect on fertility. The authors review the supposed benefits and the drawbacks of the various medical and surgical treatments available and medically assisted fertilization (IVF) in the context of the various types of endometriosis damage. They highlight the inadequacy of the AFS score, which gives very similar scores for effects with widely differing impacts on fertility. The authors attempt to identify the therapeutic associations which seem currently to be useful in treating endometriosis and also beneficial in obtaining a pregnancy.