Fertility-conserving therapy in cervical cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract Treatment of the cervical cancer patients, especially young women, is a very important clinical problem. This is related to the standard treatment methods, used in this malignancy, and the treatment complications. In most patients, the oncological treatment, be it surgery or radiotherapy, results in gonadal dysfunction with unavoidable loss of the ability to procreate. As cervical cancer affects mostly young women, fertility preserving treatment remains a considerable challenge. Due to the fact that the recent decade has brought significant progress in the diagnosis of prognostically important features characterizing the tumor biology, their precise determination enables specialists to detect a subpopulation of patients with malignancies, who do not require the total resection of the uterus and ovaries. Currently, in such cases, fertility-sparing surgery is considered in every young woman with early cervical cancer, who wishes to preserve the reproductive function. The aim of the paper is to revive the current opinions concerning fertility sparing treatment options in gynecological malignancies.