[Minimal and mild endometriosis: Impact of the laparoscopic surgery on pelvic pain and fertility. CNGOF-HAS Endometriosis Guidelines].

Minimal and mild endometriosis (stage 1 and 2 AFSR) can lead to chronic pelvic pain and infertility but can also exist in asymptomatic patients. The prevalence of asymptomatic patients with minimal and mild endometriosis is not clear but typical endometriosis lesions are found in about 5 to 10% of asymptomatic women and more than 50% of painful and/or infertile women. Laparoscopic treatment of minimal and mild endometriotic lesions is justified in case of pelvic pain because their destruction decrease significatively the pain compared with diagnostic laparoscopy alone. In this context, ablation and excision give identical results in terms of pain reduction. Moreover, literature shows no interest in uterine nerve ablation in case of dysmenorrhea due to minimal and mild endometriosis. Then, it is recommended to treat these lesions during a laparoscopy realised as part of pelvic pain. On the other hand, it is not recommended to treat asymptomatic patients. With regard to treatment of minimal and mild endometriosis in infertile patients, only two studies can be selected and both show that laparoscopy with excision or ablation and ablation of adhesions is superior to diagnostic laparoscopy alone in terms of pregnancy rate. However, it is not recommended to treat these lesions when they are asymptomatic because there is no evidence that they can progress with symptomatic disease. There is no study assessing the interest to treat these lesions when they are found fortuitously. Adhesion barrier utilisation permits to reduce post-operative adhesions, however literature failed to demonstrate the clinical profit in terms of reduction of the risk of pain or infertility.