Does the learning curve of conservative laparoscopic surgery in women with rectovaginal endometriosis impair the recurrence rate?
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of surgeon’s increasing experience in conservative laparoscopic surgery of women with rectovaginal endometriosis on the surgical outcome of these patients recurrence rate. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: University teaching hospital. PATIENT(S): The first 60 consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic conservative surgery for symptomatic rectovaginal endometriosis at our institution during a 4- year period. INTERVENTION(S): Cases were classified into two groups according to the date of the patient’s operation: the first 30 cases were defined as the early cases and the subsequent 30 cases as the late cases. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Operating time, perioperative complications, and surgical outcome. Univariate and multivariate analyses for risk factors with recurrence of disease. RESULT(S): The two groups were similar in patient characteristics. There was a reduction in the rate of laparoconversion, operating time, estimated amount of blood loss
