Endometriosis
severity affects IVF outcome
Women with moderate-to-severe endometriosis are less
likely to fall pregnant and have a baby with the help
of IVF than those with minimal-to-mild disease, researchers
have shown, according to Finish researchers.
"Women with endometriosis often need IVF to conceive—most
women need several cycles of treatment," note the
researchers, led by Paula Kuivasaari from Kuopio University
Hospital in Finland.
To investigate the impact of endometriosis severity
on IVF outcome, they followed-up 31 women with stage
I/II (minimal-to-mild) endometriosis and 67 with stage
III/IV (moderate-to-severe) disease who underwent IVF
or ICSI, along with a reference group of 87 women who
had tubal infertility.
The pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was significantly
lower for women with stage III/IV endometriosis than
for those with stage I/II disease or for the controls
(22.6 percent vs 40.0 percent and 36.6 percent, respectively).
However, after 1-4 cycles, 56.7 percent of women in
the stage III/IV group were pregnant and 40.3 percent
had given birth, compared with 67.7 percent and 55.8
percent of those in the stage I/II group, respectively,
and 81.6 percent and 43.7 percent of controls.
The authors commented that it is "obvious"
from their data that the success of IVF decreased with
increasingly severe endometriosis, but also point out
that "the overall cumulative outcome of IVF/ICSI
treatment was favorable."
They add: "Pregnancies in women with endometriosis
more often resulted in live-born infants than those
in the tubal factor group."
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