An Update on Surgical versus Expectant Management of Ovarian Endometriomas in Infertile Women

Sanaz Keyhan, S. Keyhan, Claude Hughes, Claude L. Hughes, Thomas Price, Thomas M Price, Suheil J. Muasher, Suheil Muasher
BioMed research international · 2015 · vol. 2015 , pp. 1–9 · doi:10.1155/2015/204792 · PMID:26240817 · W1681531316
review OA: hybrid CC0 ⤵ 35 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review examines surgical versus expectant management of ovarian endometriomas in infertile women, finding that direct IVF may be beneficial for certain patient profiles, as endometriomas do not appear to negatively impact IVF outcomes.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Ovarian endometriomas are a common manifestation of endometriosis that can represent a more severe stage of the disease. There is much debate over the treatment of these cysts in infertile women, particularly before use of assisted reproductive technologies. Evidence exists that supports surgical excision of ovarian endometriomas, as well as evidence that cautions against surgical intervention. Certain factors need to be examined closely before proceeding with surgery or continuing with expectant management. These include the patient's symptoms, age, ovarian reserve, size and laterality of the cyst, prior surgical treatment, and level of suspicion for malignancy. The most recent evidence appears to suggest that certain patient profiles may benefit from proceeding directly to in vitro fertilization (IVF). These include symptomatic infertile patients, especially those that are older, those that have diminished ovarian reserve, those that have bilateral endometriomas, or those that have had prior surgical treatment. Although endometriomas can be detrimental to the ovarian reserve, surgical therapy may further lower a woman's ovarian reserve. Nevertheless, the presence of an endometrioma does not appear to adversely affect IVF outcomes, and surgical excision of endometriomas does not appear to improve IVF outcomes. Regardless of treatment plan, infertile patients with endometriomas must be counseled appropriately before choosing either treatment path.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715mesh:D017699endometriosisendometrioma

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Infertility, Female Ovarian Cysts Ovarian Cysts Ovariectomy Pelvic Pain Causality Comorbidity Endometriosis Endometriosis Evidence-Based Medicine Female Humans Incidence Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Ovarian Cysts Ovariectomy Pelvic Pain Pelvic Pain

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (81)

Cited by (35)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:17:46.044120+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK