Endometriosis: a stage by stage analysis--the role of in vitro fertilization

To investigate the impact of endometriosis stage on IVF.

A retrospective study of 214 patients diagnosed with endometriosis who underwent 360 cycles of IVF at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Meanwhile, 111 pure mechanical (tubal) infertility patients treated in 160 cycles at the same time were designated as the control group for comparison.

Patient's hormone and semen profiles, hormonal response and outcome to stimulation, as well as the outcome of pregnancy, abortion, and delivery rate were analyzed.

No differences in the pregnancy outcome between the endometriosis and control groups were noted when compared among the subgroups of pure endometriosis, endometriosis plus tubal factor, endometriosis plus others (primarily endometriosis plus male factor), and control. Comparing the outcomes in pure endometriosis cases by staging, we could not find any discrepancies in terms of pregnancy rates (PRs) according to the severity of the disease. The addition of GnRH analogur down-regulation to gonadotropin stimulation resulted in an increase in PR. A relatively high delivery rate (38.9% per cycle, 41.9% per retrieval, and 43.2% per transfer) was achieved when the pure endometriosis patients were treated with concomitant leuprolide acetate down-regulation and gonadotropin.

We have observed that pregnancy outcome in patients with endometriosis was not different than the outcome for patients with mechanical (tubal) infertility. There were no differences in PRs by stage of endometriosis.