Sonographic Assessment of Ovarian Endometrioma Recurrence Six Months After Laparoscopic Cystectomy in Patients with Endometriosis

The high risk of recurrence of ovarian endometrioma after laparoscopy is a major challenge.

In this study, we measured recurrence of endometriosis six months after laparoscopic surgery and evaluated its risk factors in these patients.

In this cross-sectional study, patients with endometrioma (based on the pathologic report) who underwent laparoscopic cystectomy in Rasool-Akram Hospital, Tehran, from April 2015 to August 2016, were evaluated by ultrasonography six months after the surgery. Endometriosis surgery was done by a team of expert surgeons. The demographic information of patients, number, size, and location of cysts, disease stage, and medical treatment taken after the surgery were recorded in the study checklist. The pre-operative endometriosis-related symptoms, including pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, dyschezia, and dysuria were recorded by visual analogue scale and compared with related symptoms six months after the surgery.

Seventy-nine patients completed the study with the mean age of 31.38 ± 5.98 years. The mean cysts’ size was 69.2 ± 2.76 mm: 44.3% had multiple cysts and 39.2% bilateral endometrioma. In 53.1% deep infiltrative endometriosis (DIE) was recorded. After six months, 13.9% had a recurrence with the mean size of 37.2 ± 13.3 mm. There was a statistically significant correlation between recurrence and a previous surgery (P = 0.001) and infertility (P = 0.02). All endometriosis-related symptoms significantly decreased six months after the surgery.

The recurrence rate, compared to the previous report, indicated that patients with a previous surgery and infertility should be closely monitored for the risk of recurrence. Possibly, damages in the previous surgery and cellular and molecular abnormalities that encountered more deeply in endometriosis-associated infertility predispose the patients to more recurrence rate, which can be further investigated.