Endometriosis cyst removal- will it damage eggs?

[Siothew]

Hey all

I’m due to have surgery in February for my endo. I have stage 4 endo and have been referred for fertility investigations so waiting on first appointment for that. Will likely end up with ivf due to the extent of my endo and my husband’s sperm morphology and motility were poor.

My last scan showed a chocolate cyst 5cm on my right ovary which I was shocked at because I feel fine. Anyway they’re proposing to remove it. Is there a risk of damaging my eggs here? Has anyone had a cyst removed and been told this has damaged your eggs? I haven’t had any eggs frozen yet.

Thank you

x

[ZiggyandBC]

Hi lovely,

I had a 4cm chocolate cyst removed from one of my ovaries and my AMH did lower (number of eggs) but I wasn’t told it could affect the quality, just quantity as they’re removing something from the ovary. I had a cyst removed but my egg quality still seems good as I’ve gone on to have a successful round of IVF (currently pregnant) hopefully this will give you some reassurance ❤️

[Siothew in reply to ZiggyandBC]

Hey

Thanks so much for responding. My AMH seems to suggest I have a ton of eggs (thankfully) but I didn’t know if it would dramatically take it down. They said I had a result of 40.5 and I’m 33 so they thought I may even have a touch of pcos.

Thank you for confirming this and so pleased you’ve had a successful ivf. Gives me hope- feel so low atm but hoping once we start moving forward with surgery, egg collection etc, I’ll feel more like things are being done. I hope your pregnancy is going well xx

[Skittles11]

Hiya, this is something I am currently battling with myself. In your shoes I think I would want to check the ovarian reserve before doing the surgery. If you have good reserve it's probably fine but if the reserve is quite low it would be worth a discussion with the doctor as to whether to freeze eggs or embryos before doing the surgery in case it depletes the ovarian reserve. I think it depends very much on your individual circumstances though xx

[Siothew12 in reply to Skittles11]

thank you for your reply and best of luck with your endometriosis xx

[Pollywho]

Hi

My fertility clinic told me they prefer to only aspirate chocolate cysts if needed during IVF rather than remove them as this can affect your eggiess. During my latest (& first) cycle I had a 6cm and a 4cm chocolate cyst, the clinic just drained them so they could reach all the follicles - this was a relatively simple procedure.

Before my clinic told me this I had a 6cm cyst removed surgically and I do wonder if it has affected my ovaries. If I could go back in time I would want to speak to a fertility expert for their recommendations.

Please remember this is only my situation, I don't know your circumstances. Your surgeon might be more knowledgeable about fertility than mine was! My surgeon was a bit useless.

Good luck with your op xx

[Siothew12 in reply to Pollywho]

thank you for your reply xx

[butterfliez]

Hi sorry your having to go through the struggles endometriosis really is shit.

I had a 10cm choc cyst on my ovary back in 2019 I had laparoscopy to remove, they just drained it and diagnosed endo, they did not remove any where else due to me already in the midst of ivf trying for a baby. apparently it can lower AMH but not damage eggs.

the advice I was given is that unless the cyst is causing an issue ( for ivf or painful) then not to do the surgery before, but anything above 5cm should be removed. I went back to my clinic 2 months after I had my surgery to find that another cyst had grown in those months, they left it alone as it has not grown further. I have since had many rounds of ivf treatments in which the cysts have caused no trouble. so it is possible to have ivf with cysts present.

I would go ahead with the surgery because it is booked but maybe just have the cyst drained. there will always be a chance of them reoccurring with endo but may give you a better chance with the cyst not grown larger than 5cm, if you need to go down the ivf route. x

[Siothew12 in reply to butterfliez]

thank you so much for responding. Super helpful. Best of luck on your own journey xx

[Ganges]

hi I had an 8cm chocolate cyst, so wasn’t given a choice. It has affected my AMH but that can be elevated due to the cyst. Egg quality is fine. All my ivf has been post surgery. It was Gynae who referred me for ivf. Good luck x