Chinese researchers have compared the clinical features and impacts of endometrial polyps (EPs) on fertility between patients with endometriosis (EM) and patients without EM.

The study, “Demographic and Clinical Features of Endometrial Polyps in Patients with Endometriosis,” was published on-line in the journal BioMed Research International.

According to the researchers, 47% of infertile women have EM, though the specific pathology that leads to infertility in that patient population is not clearly understood. One hypothesis blames the causal mechanism associated with the development of Eps.

To discover the causal mechanism, researchers conducted a comparison study of these two distinct patient groups by collecting data from 76 patients with EM who had been diagnosed with EPs and 133 patients in the control group who had been diagnosed with EPs.  The entire study population had undergone laparotomy or hysteroscopy and laparoscopy between July 2002 and April 2008 in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.

After analysis of patient data the researchers findings included:

• The average age of EP occurrence in patients with EM was 38 years, while that of the EPs in control group was 40.
• The incidence of EPs in EM group was not related to the age of the patient and number of pregnancies.
• The incidence of EPs in EM group showed that with fewer number of births to term, the higher the incidence of EPs.
• The incidence of infertility in the EM group was significantly higher than that in the control group.
• The incidence of EPs in the EM group was significantly increased in primary infertility patients.

The authors wrote: “Based on the clinical analysis, patients with EM combined with EPs have smaller polyps size, exhibiting unchanged menstrual cycle and higher recurrence rate and having high rates of primary infertility or fewer pregnancies in patient complaints. It is important to identify whether infertile patients with EM are also having EPs. Hysteroscopic polypectomy together with the removal of endometriotic foci will significantly increase the likelihood of achieving a pregnancy.”