The outcomes of fertility sparing surgery in epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

Conservative surgery has long been discussed as a treatment option in women with ovarian cancer at reproductive age. However, current guidelines recommend conservative surgery only in selected patients. There is considerable interest on pregnancy and delivery rates after fertility-sparing surgery (FSS), with several ongoing studies on this subject. The aim of the present multi-center study was to evaluate survival and pregnancy outcomes in patients that underwent fertility-sparing surgery. This retrospective study included 19 patients who underwent fertility-sparing surgery due to invasive epithelial ovarian cancer between 2002 and 2014. The median duration of follow-up was 59.5 months (range 10-152 months). A total of 10 full-term pregnancies and 3 spontaneous abortions occurred in 7 patients (36.8%) following FSS. Ten patients (52.6%) underwent prophylactic surgery after a median period of 49 months (16-119 months), while 2 patients (10.5%) developed recurrent disease after prophylactic surgery. Accurate staging in patients with early stage epithelial ovarian cancer and regular follow-up has shown promising reproductive outcomes. In light of the current data, fertility-sparing surgery should be considered in selected patients with stage I epithelial ovarian cancer. There is still no consensus, however, on the selection criteria of eligible patients for fertility-sparing surgery.