Does chocolate cyst reduce the chance of pregnancy?

The condition in which the endometrium layer located inside the uterus settles on organs outside the uterus, which is frequently seen in women of reproductive age and in some cases is very difficult to notice, is called chocolate cyst or endometriosis. Obstetrics and Gynaecology Specialist Doç. Dr. Taner Usta states that chocolate cysts, which are seen in 1 in every 10 women, settle in the ovaries with a 70% likelihood.

Obstetrics and Gynaecology Specialist Prof. Dr. Usta made detailed explanations about the effect of chocolate cyst on becoming pregnant. Endometriosis, which has the possibility of settling in different areas of the body apart from the ovary, creates serious problems for women.

Chocolate cyst is a problem directly connected with infertility. The frequency with which endometriosis is seen in women who will receive infertility treatment can rise to as high as 50%.

For this reason it is very important, particularly in women who want to become pregnant, for chocolate cyst to be diagnosed early and for treatment to be started. The most frequent symptoms of chocolate cyst are pain during periods, painful intercourse and not being able to become pregnant. Because it makes becoming pregnant more difficult, endometriosis should be recognised early and treated without harming the ovaries. For this, women who have these complaints need to go to a specialist doctor and be examined.

30% of women who have a chocolate cyst cannot become pregnant because of these formations. While there is a possibility of becoming pregnant with mild and moderately severe cysts, in more advanced problems pregnancy can be seriously at risk.

As well as being able to cause infertility in women, chocolate cyst can also create a toxic effect on sperm cells and cause the sperm to die. Because of this, chocolate cyst considerably reduces the person’s chance of becoming pregnant even if there is no blockage in the tubes. In women who want to become pregnant it should definitely be investigated whether or not there is a problem of chocolate cyst.

Surgical intervention carried out for a chocolate cyst may cause some ovarian tissue to be removed as well. For this reason the person’s egg reserve should be examined. If the person is not married, it may be necessary to freeze her eggs before chocolate cyst treatment. In the same way, for couples chocolate cyst treatment can be carried out after the embryo freezing procedure.

The importance of early diagnosis in the treatment of chocolate cyst is extremely great. With early diagnosis, drug therapy helps successful results to be obtained. In addition, the success rate of surgical intervention to be carried out for endometriosis that is diagnosed early is also quite high. In more advanced cases, drug therapy ceases to be an option and the chance of surgical intervention being successful decreases.