Objective: To assess the role of fertility preservation in the treatment of patients with early epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 21 patients with early EOC from January 1995 to December 2006. All eligible patients with a strong desire to preserve fertility were younger than 35 years and underwent fertility-sparing surgery with or without adjuvant chemotherapy.
Results: Twenty-one eligible patients with a median age of 26.7 years (range, 20 to 33 years) were identified, and the mean follow-up period was 43 months (range, 5 to 86 months). Only one patient with stage IC recurred 34 months after the first operation. A total of five patients were able to become pregnant at least once after the first fertility preserving treatment, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy. All five patients succeeded in full-term vaginal delivery with healthy infants. No patients died of their disease.
Conclusion: Fertility preserving treatment in patients with early EOC can be considered as a proper treatment strategy in patients with early EOC, who have the strong desire for fertility preservation.
Keywords: Epithelial ovarian cancer; Fertility preservation; Staging operation.