AUTHOR=Garavaglia Elisabetta , Sala Cinzia , Taccagni Gianluca , Traglia Michela , Barbieri Caterina , Ferrari Stefano , Candiani Massimo , Panina-Bordignon Paola , Toniolo Daniela 

TITLE=Fertility Preservation in Endometriosis Patients: Anti-Müllerian Hormone Is a Reliable Marker of the Ovarian Follicle Density

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2017.00040

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2017.00040

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="ST1"><title>Objective</title><p>To analyze the ovarian reserve <italic>via</italic> measurement of follicular density and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in endometriosis patients participating to a clinical program of cortical ovarian cryopreservation.</p></sec><sec id="ST2"><title>Design</title><p>Retrospective analysis of serum AMH levels and prospective investigation of ovarian follicle number.</p></sec><sec id="ST3"><title>Setting</title><p>University Hospital.</p></sec><sec id="ST4"><title>Patient(s)</title><p>Two hundred and two women with endometriosis and 400 controls.</p></sec><sec id="ST5"><title>Intervention(s)</title><p>Blood samples and ovarian biopsies.</p></sec><sec id="ST6"><title>Main outcome measure(s)</title><p>Correlation of serum AMH levels and the number of non-growing follicles in the biopsied cortical tissues in endometriosis and control subjects, including age, type of AMH kit, and the laboratory performing the analysis as covariates.</p></sec><sec id="ST7"><title>Result(s)</title><p>AMH levels were shown to decrease with age in untreated endometriosis patients (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 1.0 × 10<sup>−5</sup>) but they were significantly lower in endometriosis compared to controls only in patients over 36 years old (<italic>P</italic> = 2.7 × 10<sup>−4</sup>). The AMH decrease was faster in endometriosis compared to controls (beta = 0.27, <italic>P</italic> = 4.0 × 10<sup>−4</sup>). Primordial follicle number decreased with the reduction of AMH levels in both cases and controls (beta = 0.3; <italic>P</italic> = 0.04).</p></sec><sec id="ST8"><title>Conclusion</title><p>AMH is a reliable marker of ovarian reserve in endometriosis patients, and it can predict follicular density in women undergoing ovarian tissue cryopreservation.</p></sec>