Bruno Ramalho de Carvalho, Hitomi Miura Nakagava, Adelino Amaral Silva, Antonio Cesar Paes Barbosa
JBRA Assist. Reprod. 2010; 14 (4):43-46
Received June 14, 2010
Accepted July 24, 2010
Abstract
Although up to 60% of women with endometriosis complain of infertility, knowledge on the etiopathogeny of such an association is still limited. Mechanical obstruction to reproductive processes is the most accepted phenomenon to explain infertility in women with endometriosis, but the diverse phenotypes of the disease and notorious biochemical changes in the pelvic-peritonial microenvironment lead us to a complex multifactorial net of possibly connected mechanisms. In this article, we revised classic and recently proposed non-obstructive etiopathogenic theories on endometriosis-related infertility, providing background to counseling and follow up of those patients in reproductive medicine clinics.
