Surgery

Women with a suspected diagnosis of endometriosis may benefit from laparoscopic surgery prior to other fertility treatment. Laparoscopic surgery may also be used for some other causes of infertility. Surgery may be recommended to remove uterine fibroids if their location or size would affect pregnancy.

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Men may be advised to have a varicocele (varicose vein in the scrotum) repaired if it is affecting sperm count or motility. There are some other rare causes of male infertility that can also be repaired surgically, such as a block where the tube carrying sperm from the testicles enters the urethra.

And, finally, some couples request reversal of an earlier sterilization operation, either a tubal ligation or a vasectomy.

You might think it would be possible to repair a scarred or blocked fallopian tube, a common cause of infertility, but in most cases this surgery is unsuccessful. Fallopian tube scar tissue returns in 70 percent of cases after this type of surgery. Also, repairing a blocked fallopian tube can make an ectopic pregnancy more common. An ectopic pregnancy is one that grows outside of the uterus, most commonly in the fallopian tube. These pregnancies can burst, leading to lower belly pain, fainting, bleeding in the belly cavity, and even the mother's death. In very mild fallopian tube disease, surgery may be beneficial, but in most cases in vitro fertilization is recommended to obtain a pregnancy in women with fallopian tube damage or blockage.

This section contains more information on:

Laparoscopic surgery

Fibroids

Varicocele repair

Sterilization reversal