Search

Hye-yon Cho,1 Sung-taek Park,2 Sung-ho Park,2 Min Sun Kyung1 1Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hwaseong, Korea; 2Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul, KoreaCorrespondence: Min Sun KyungDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hallym University Medical Center, 40 Seoku-dong, Hwaseong, 18450, KoreaTel +82-31-8086-2898Fax +82-31-8086-2650Email msfeel@hallym.or.krPurpose: To investigate whether laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy (LOC) affects ovarian reserve.Patients and Methods: In 46 premenopausal women, who underwent either LOC (study group, n=26) or laparoscopic myomectomy (LM) (control group, n=20), serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels were measured pre-operatively (AMH0), and postoperatively at 7 days (AMH1), 2 months (AMH2), and 6 months (AMH3). Changes in AMH from baseline level (AMH0) in each group were compared.Results: AMH0 did not differ between the two groups (3.5 ± 3.33 in LOC vs 2.4 ± 2.72 in LM, P=0.250). AMH1, AMH2, and AMH3 in each group were also similar. However, a significant decline of AMH (ie more than 50% decrease compared to AMH0) at postoperative 6 months occurred more frequently in the LOC group than in the LM group. In the sub-analysis of the LOC group, a significant decline of AMH at postoperative 2 months and 6 months was highly correlated with bilateral ovarian tumors (P=0.001).Conclusion: Compared to LM, serum AMH level showed a minimal decrease after 1 week following LOC, which did not revert to normal over 6 months of follow-up. In addition, a significant decline of ovarian reserve at postoperative 6 months was significantly more frequent in the LOC group, suggesting that LOC may have more adverse effects on ovarian reserve compared to the LM (control) group. Thus, care is required during the LOC procedure, specifically in women with bilateral tumors.Keywords: AMH, laparoscopy, ovarian cystectomy, ovarian reserve, electrocautery