A lthough the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis can be challenging, this is a gynecological problem that is increasingly common, especially in women of reproductive age. In women of reproductive age, the disease generally presents with ovulation problems, infertility, or chronic pelvic pain. [1] The disease is defined as the extrauterine presence and proliferation of ectopic non-neoplastic endometrial tissue, usually glands and stroma. [2] The true incidence of endometriosis is not known. General-ly, endometriosis has been reported in 45% of women with chronic pelvic disease and 2.1% to 78% of infertile women. [3][4][5] Endometrioma is the most frequently diagnosed form, and represents 17% to 44% of pelvic endometriosis cases and some 29% have bilateral ovary involvement. [6] Endometriosis affects 2.5% to 3.3% of women of reproductive age. Tsuji et al. reported a global incidence of as much as 63% in infertile women. [7,8] Generally, laparoscopic surgery is a safe approach to manage the disease; however, there Objectives: The aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate the clinical and surgical outcomes of patients diagnosed with ovarian endometrioma in a hospital gynecology clinic and to investigate the safety and efficacy of treatment with laparoscopic surgery. Methods: The data of 44 patients who were operated on for ovarian endometrioma were analyzed retrospectively.
Results:The mean age of the patients was 30.1±5.3 years. The mean cyst size was 7.0±5.3 cm. In all, 54% of the patients had dysmenorrhea, and 29.5% of the patients were infertile. Laparoscopy was successfully performed in all of the patients, and no complications were observed in any patient. Furthermore, it was found that ovarian reserve tests in the infertile patients were not negatively affected. Conclusion: With sufficient experience, laparoscopy is a very safe and effective method of surgery in ovarian endometrioma. If a laparoscopic cystectomy is performed with the proper technique, it does not adversely affect ovarian reserve.