The presence of bowel infiltration by endometriosis seems to negatively influence the reproductive outcome in women with endometriosis-associated infertility. The complete removal of endometriosis with bowel segmental resection seems to offer better results in terms of post-operative fertility.

Bowel resection for endometriosis improves pain symptoms and quality of life in symptomatic women. However, little is known about fertility after surgery, particularly after such treatment in women suffering from infertility. The aim of the present study was to evaluate post-operative fertility and long-term clinical outcome after laparoscopic colorectal resection for endometriosis in infertile women. This study reports clinical outcomes in 62 infertile women who underwent laparoscopic excision of endometriosis with segmental bowel resection performed for severe intestinal symptoms. Among women younger than 30 years trying to conceive spontaneously, the cumulative pregnancy rate was 58% and the cumulative pregnancy rate was 45% in those aged 30-34 years. The total pain recurrence was 9.7% (six cases) and endometriosis recurrence was diagnosed by ultrasound in 14.5% (nine cases) during the follow-up period. Four of these patients needed further surgery because of severe symptoms. The surgical treatment of bowel endometriosis seems to improve pain symptoms and patients' satisfaction rates, and it could also be indicated in infertile women.

Endometriosis affects women in reproductive age and can involve bowel in 6-12 % of the patients. In case of bowel occlusion or deep pain, radical laparoscopic endometriosic surgery associated with bowel resection is recommended. The purpose of this study was to analyze the conception rate, the obstetric complications, and the pregnancy outcome. This is a retrospective study; we investigated 51 patients with deep endometriosis who underwent surgical treatment with bowel resection during the period between 2000 and 2007. Among the 30 patients who gave birth to at least one live child after surgery, we considered only the first pregnancy following bowel resection and we investigated the incidence of pregnancy disorders, the gestational age at delivery, the baby birth weight, and the complications related to the different ways of delivery. We compared the results with a control group of 93 patients with no previous abdominal surgery. The whole group of 51 patients tried to conceive after surgery, and 30 women had at least one pregnancy with the birth of an alive baby. Considering only the first pregnancies after surgery, 6 (20 %) experienced gestational hypertensive disorders, 3 (10 %) had placenta previa, 6 (20 %) had preterm birth (<37 weeks), and 1 patient (3.3 %) gestational diabetes. In this group, the average newborn weight was 3000±545 g. Compared with the control group, women with previous bowel resection for deep endometriosis had a higher risk of hypertensive disorders (p<0.05), placenta previa (p<0.05), and lower newborn weight (p<0.05), while the association with preterm birth and gestational diabetes was not statistically significant. These patients experience 12 vaginal deliveries (40 %) and 18 caesarean sections (60 %). Comparing with the caesarean rate in the control group (29.03 %), the incidence of caesarean section in the study population was substantially higher (p<0.01) with 33.3 % of the sections performed because of previous bowel surgery. No differences in severe complication rates were observed between vaginal and caesarean deliveries (ns). Complete removal of endometriosis with bowel segmental resection seems to improve the pregnancy rate, but in this group, there is an increased incidence of hypertensive disorders, placenta previa, and lower newborn weight. Despite the small number of patients, we do not observe more complications in the vaginal group than in the caesarean group, so we hypothesize the previous radical surgery should not influence the way of delivery.

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