Factors Causing Infertility in Women Diagnosed with Endometriosis

Abstract

Endometriosis is a pathology that commonly prevails in more than 50% of women as a cause of dysmenorrhea and infertility and we can define it as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside of it, that is, ectopic endometrial tissue that is mostly located in the ovaries, Douglas pouch, uterosacral ligaments and other anatomical sites. Infertility associated with endometriosis is a multifactorial disease and there is no certainty about the mechanisms by which it is developed, however there are several theories that could provide an explanation. Oxidative stress is one of the factors that contribute to infertility where a chain of events is created that culminates in the alteration of the number of oocyte recovery and the number of mature oocytes. Dysregulation of aromatase P450 production in steroidogenesis causes a decrease in estrogen production altering follicular and oocyte development. There are also interleukins associated with infertility of which TNF-α, interleukin-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and others stand out. On the other hand, there are several biological explanations that are related to the causal link between endometriosis and infertility, some of them include factors of the pelvic cavity, ovarian and genetic factors.