In 100 consecutive patients who were undergoing laparoscopy for infertility (group 1, n = 52), chronic pelvic pain (group 2, n = 18) or tubal sterilization (group 3, n = 30, asymptomatic fertile women), peritoneal biopsies were taken from areas of visually normal peritoneum of uterosacral ligaments. Twenty-six patients in group 1 (50%), eight patients in group 2 (44.4%) and 13 patients in group 3 (43.3%), were found to have laparoscopic evidence of endometriosis elsewhere in the pelvis. The majority of women (80.7% in group 1, 87.5% in group 2, and 100% in group 3) had stage I disease. The incidence of the distinctive appearances of the lesions was similar in the three groups of patients and 7% of all women or 15% (7/47) of those patients having endometriosis at laparoscopy had only subtle (non-¿typical') endometriotic peritoneal lesions. Uterosacral biopsies showed the presence of endometriotic tissue in three cases (5.7%), two cases (11%) and three cases (10%) in groups 1, 2, and 3 respectively. One of the two patients in group 2 and two of the three patients in group 3 had no evidence of endometriosis at laparoscopy; thus histological study revealed the presence of endometriosis in normal peritoneum in 11% (5/47) of patients having macroscopic endometriosis and in 6% (3/53) of patients without endometriosis at laparoscopy. Previous oral contraceptive users were significantly higher among women having macroscopic and/or microscopic endometriosis than among women without the condition. In conclusion, our prospective study shows a high prevalence (45-50%) of endometriosis (including microscopic forms) in both patients with chronic pelvic pain and asymptomatic women (fertile and infertile), thus supporting the modern concept that in many women endometriosis may be a paraphysiological condition while probably only in some patients small amounts of endometriosis are an ¿annoyance' with implications to their reproductive health and may produce symptoms (e.g. pelvic pain) and therefore should be defined as a ¿dis-ease'. Previous use of oral contraceptives may increase the risk of developing endometriosis.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, efficacy, and morbidity of laparoscopic ovarian transposition on the preservation of hormonal function in patients younger than 45 years operated for early cervical cancer. According to risk factors on pathologic evaluation of the specimen, some of them will receive postoperative pelvic radiotherapy. This subset of patients could benefit from taking the ovaries away from the irradiation field in an effort to preserve their functionality. This prospective study included 28 FIGO stage IB1 cervical cancer patients, 45 years old or younger, maintaining menstrual cycles, who were considered suitable for conservation of the ovaries. The ovarian transposition was performed by laparoscopy as a part of the same celio-Schauta operation. Twelve patients underwent adjuvant pelvic radiotherapy. No intraoperative or postoperative morbidity related to the ovarian transposition was observed, and the procedure only entailed a minimum delay of the operative time. There were no cases of ovarian metastasis. At a mean follow-up of 44 months, 63.6% of patients receiving radiotherapy and 93% of those who nonirradiated maintained normal ovarian function. Two patients developed benign ovarian cysts, requiring oophorectomy, but no other long-term adverse effects of the transposition were identified. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest series of the laparoscopic procedure reported to date in this setting. According to our results, laparoscopic ovarian transposition is a safe and effective procedure for the preservation of ovarian function in young patients with early cervical cancer undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery.

The present study is the first prospective randomized controlled trial of the effect of pentoxifylline on future fertility in infertile women with asymptomatic minimal or mild endometriosis. After completion of a basic infertility workup and laparoscopy, patients were entered into the study and randomly allocated to receive either a 12 month course of oral pentoxifylline (800 mg/day) (n = 30) or an oral placebo (n = 30). Those patients with other infertility factors were included in the study only if the factors were correctable and ultimately determined to be non-contributory. Life-table analysis was used to compare pregnancy rates between the two groups over a 12 month period that started immediately after laparoscopy. The 12 month actuarial overall pregnancy rates were 31 and 18.5% in the pentoxifylline and placebo groups respectively. However, this difference was not statistically significant by the chi(2)-test. Similarly, the Cox regression method showed no differences between the hazard of pregnancy in the two groups studied (odds ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.18-1.67). Therefore, there is no evidence from this study that immunomodulation with pentoxifylline aids fertility in those women with minimal or mild endometriosis. Further studies including more infertile patients with endometriosis are desirable in order to confirm our results.