Ovarian Endometrioma: Rate of Recurrence and Factors Correlated

Background: To evaluate the recurrence rate of ovarian endometrioma during a period of five years and risk factors associated with this disorder. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study of 97 women diagnosed with ovarian endometrioma during a period of 5 years was conducted. These women were recruited from the Endometriosis Outpatient Facility at the University of Campinas. The following variables were analyzed in the groups of women with and without recurrence of ovarian endometrioma: age, pregnancies, parity, cesarean section, abortion, body mass index (BMI), symptomatology of endometrioma (dysmenorrheal, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain and infertility), type of surgery for excision of endometrioma (laparotomy or laparoscopy), presence of other foci, postoperative treatment with drugs and associated disorders. The frequencies, means and standard deviation were analyzed for each variable. Fisher's exact test and logistic regression model were used for a comparative analysis between variables. Results: The mean age of the patients was 33.8±6.6 years. The recurrence rate of endometrioma was 40.2% and the mean time for disease recurrence was 34 months after surgery. There was a significant association between a higher recurrence rate of endometrioma and the presence of other foci (p=0.03). There was no statistical significance of the recurrence of endometrioma with the other variables. Conclusion: The recurrence rate of ovarian endometrioma is high. Women with advanced stages of endometriosis have a higher recurrence rate of endometrioma and recurrence is higher at 2 years after surgery. The postoperative treatments with drugs do not change the recurrence rate of ovarian endometrioma.