OBJECTIVE: To investigate if complete resolution of endometriosis by laparoscopic surgery is beneficial to postoperative fecundity, dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia. DESIGN: An observational comparative study on the outcome of laparoscopic surgery. PATIENTS: Laparoscopically-treated symptomatic women with endometriosis (total n = 236); complete (n = 185) and incomplete (n = 51) surgery groups. MEASUREMENTS: Postoperative fecundity and symptom reduction. RESULTS: With whole populations, no surgical completeness-related difference was observed in cumulative pregnancy rates during the postoperative days 0-400 (cycle fecundity rate = 0.0319). Further accumulation of pregnant cases was followed in the complete surgery group (final cumulative pregnancy rate = 80%), but not in the counterpart group (p = 0.003). The similar result was obtained when only r-AFS classification stages III and IV were compared (p = 0.007). No r-AFS stage-related difference was observed in cumulative pregnancy rates when only patients of complete surgery were selected for comparison. The surgery reduced dysmenorrhea (84.7%) and dyspareunia (80.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic conservative surgery for endometriosis, especially when it is complete, increases fecundity and reduces disease-related symptoms, such as dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate if complete resolution of endometriosis by laparoscopic surgery is beneficial to postoperative fecundity, dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia. DESIGN: An observational comparative study on the outcome of laparoscopic surgery. PATIENTS: Laparoscopically-treated symptomatic women with endometriosis (total n = 236); complete (n = 185) and incomplete (n = 51) surgery groups. MEASUREMENTS: Postoperative fecundity and symptom reduction. RESULTS: With whole populations, no surgical completeness-related difference was observed in cumulative pregnancy rates during the postoperative days 0-400 (cycle fecundity rate = 0.0319). Further accumulation of pregnant cases was followed in the complete surgery group (final cumulative pregnancy rate = 80%), but not in the counterpart group (p = 0.003). The similar result was obtained when only r-AFS classification stages III and IV were compared (p = 0.007). No r-AFS stage-related difference was observed in cumulative pregnancy rates when only patients of complete surgery were selected for comparison. The surgery reduced dysmenorrhea (84.7%) and dyspareunia (80.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic conservative surgery for endometriosis, especially when it is complete, increases fecundity and reduces disease-related symptoms, such as dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia.