Assisted reproductive technique outcomes in patients with endometrioma undergoing sclerotherapy vs laparoscopic cystectomy: Prospective cross‐sectional study

Purpose The authors compared assisted reproductive technique (ART) outcomes and the recurrence rate of endometrioma in the infertile patients undergoing sclerotherapy vs laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy. Methods In this prospective cross‐sectional study, a total of 101 infertile patients, with unilateral endometriomas, were divided into two groups. The first group (n = 57) underwent ART after 1 year of unsuccessful spontaneous pregnancy after laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy; the second group (n = 44) had ethanol sclerotherapy (EST) at the time of oocyte retrieval. The authors measured the number of oocytes, clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), live birth rate (LBR), complication, and recurrence of endometriomas as the primary and secondary outcomes. Results The two groups had no significant differences in baseline characteristics and ovarian stimulation markers and also total number of oocytes. 42.1% and 34.1% of the patients (n = 24 and 15) had clinical pregnancy, and 38.6% and 29.5% (n = 22 and 13) had live birth following ART cycles in the surgery group and sclerotherapy group (P = .41, 0.34). The recurrence rates were 14.0% and 34.1% in the surgery and sclerotherapy groups (P = .017, X2 = 5.67). Conclusions Ethanol sclerotherapy can be a good alternative to surgery concerning the treatment of endometrioma; however, the recurrence of the disease in this group is significantly higher. Considering the almost equal number of pregnancy rate and live birth rate in surgery and ethanol sclerotherapy (EST) groups, it can be concluded that EST can be a good alternative to surgery concerning the treatment of endometrioma, particularly in the reproductive age women.