Infertility is defined by the failure of achieving a natural conception after 12 months of unprotected regular intercourse. Nonetheless, the duration is shortened to 6 months in women aged 35 years old or more. According to the World Health Organization statistics, female factors are the underlying causes of infertility in 37% of couples, while male and female factors are present simultaneously in nearly 35% of cases. Considering its relatively high prevalence, female infertility should be considered in every infertile couple and managed appropriately when present.
Although anovulation accounts for 25% of the infertility etiologies in women, endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, leiomyomas, endometrial polyps, and congenital uterine malformations are the causes of infertility in almost half of patients.
Moreover, cesarean scar defect (uterine niche) is a newly-defined iatrogenic pathology which is thought to be the only cause of infertility in some patients. Despite the fact that much of these diseases can be managed medically, surgery remains the most effective treatment for all of them.
Additionally, surgery is frequently recommended for patients opting assisted reproduction technology (ART) – especially those dealing with deep endometriosis and hydrosalpinx – as a mean of improving reproductive outcomes.
To date, the introduction of finer and less-traumatic devices has paved the way toward making surgery safer, more efficient, and less invasive than what it used to be. On the one hand, laparoscopy is currently considered to gold standard approach for the management of pelvic diseases associated with infertility; on the other hand, hysteroscopy is progressively shifting from operative room to outpatient office setting for the treatment of the most common intrauterine diseases which may impair fertility.
In this scenario, we aimed to collected groundbreaking research articles as well as narrative and systematic reviews about the role of minimally invasive surgery for the management of infertility, with or without combined approach with ART.
Infertility is defined by the failure of achieving a natural conception after 12 months of unprotected regular intercourse. Nonetheless, the duration is shortened to 6 months in women aged 35 years old or more. According to the World Health Organization statistics, female factors are the underlying causes of infertility in 37% of couples, while male and female factors are present simultaneously in nearly 35% of cases. Considering its relatively high prevalence, female infertility should be considered in every infertile couple and managed appropriately when present.
Although anovulation accounts for 25% of the infertility etiologies in women, endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, leiomyomas, endometrial polyps, and congenital uterine malformations are the causes of infertility in almost half of patients.
Moreover, cesarean scar defect (uterine niche) is a newly-defined iatrogenic pathology which is thought to be the only cause of infertility in some patients. Despite the fact that much of these diseases can be managed medically, surgery remains the most effective treatment for all of them.
Additionally, surgery is frequently recommended for patients opting assisted reproduction technology (ART) – especially those dealing with deep endometriosis and hydrosalpinx – as a mean of improving reproductive outcomes.
To date, the introduction of finer and less-traumatic devices has paved the way toward making surgery safer, more efficient, and less invasive than what it used to be. On the one hand, laparoscopy is currently considered to gold standard approach for the management of pelvic diseases associated with infertility; on the other hand, hysteroscopy is progressively shifting from operative room to outpatient office setting for the treatment of the most common intrauterine diseases which may impair fertility.
In this scenario, we aimed to collected groundbreaking research articles as well as narrative and systematic reviews about the role of minimally invasive surgery for the management of infertility, with or without combined approach with ART.
