Abstract: Patients with endometrioma always have poor IVF outcomes. Before IVF-ET, it is a problem whether to remove surgically endometrioma. Recently，a growing number of studies found that the surgery to remove ovrian endometrioma did not improve IVF outcomes because of the damaged ovarian reserve and lowered responsiveness to gonadotrophins. Meanwhile, the damage degree of surgery is related with operative procedure, surgeons′ experience, and surgical approach. In a word, surgery is not benefit to patients with endometrioma before IVF treatment. The ovarian endometrioma is considered to be treated surgically only under a few special conditions.

Key words: Endometriosis, Ovarian cysts, Fertilization, in vitro, Embryo transfer