Recovery Rate of Patients with Recurrent Ovarian Endometriomas Using Sclerotherapy with 95% Ethanol

Aims Ovarian endometrioma is a prevalent gynecologic disease in women of reproductive age that is accompanied with a number of symptoms and has a high recurrence rate after hormone therapy and surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sclerotherapy with 95% ethanol in patients with recurrent ovarian endometriomas. Materials & Methods In this pre-post clinical trial, 14 patients with infertility and recurrent ovarian endometriomas were examined during a period from December 2012 to December 2013 in Ghadir Mother and Child Hospital affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. These subjects had undergone a laparotomy to remove their cysts at least once. They were selected using convenience sampling method. The patients underwent sclerotherapy with 95% ethanol and referred 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the procedure for their periodic examinations and levels of FSH, AMH, CA125, E2, AFC, mass size, and pelvic pain were measured. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) by SPSS 14 software. Findings While the level of FSH significantly decreased (p=0.01), the AMH level began to increase after the treatment (p=0.17); however, this increase was not significant. The AFC level increased with the aid of the treatment (p=0.002). The mass size and the patients’ pain also significantly decreased (p<0.05). Four cases of pregnancy happened. In 2 of the patients, the cysts recurred and grew again. Conclusion Sclerotherapy with 95% ethanol can be used as an appropriate alternative therapy in patients with recurrent endometriomas.