Keeping the Option to Have Children After Cervical Cancer Treatment?

Answer 1

When it comes to devising a treatment plan for recommendation, doctors take several things into consideration. Two of the more important factors are the stage of the cancer and whether the woman may desire to have children after successful treatment. Diagnosis of Cervical cancer is done via Pap smear, and there may be little more information available from this than the presence of cancer in surface tissue of the cervix.

Early Detection Important to Maintaining Option

Preserving the option to have children without endangering the woman's life by withholding necessary treatments is a foremost concern for doctors. The presence of cancer on the cervix triggers the need for a biopsy or other diagnostic procedures. If the cancer is caught by stage IB1 and has not spread to the lymph, it will likely be possible to preserve the uterus at minimum. If cancer has spread to the lymph or elsewhere in the pelvis, surgery will need to be followed by radiation.

Early detection makes it more possible to save the uterus and possibly other reproductive organs. If a full hysterectomy or radical trachelectomy is required, doctors may still be able to freeze eggs for later fertilization. Women may have the possibility of carrying an implanted embryo following radical trachelectomy

Hysterectomy Versus Trachelectomy

Several surgical options exist at the earliest stage of detection, but removal of the cervix, uterus, lymph, fallopian tubes, and ovaries (also known as radical hysterectomy) becomes less avoidable once cancer has spread to lymph and blood vessels. For women who want to keep pregnancy as an option, the trachelectomy may be performed instead. Should it become compromised, the doctor may return later to remove the uterus later.

Trachelectomy is the surgical removal of the cervix, part of the vaginal canal, and pelvic lymph. Cesarean section will be required. Whether or not radiation is used, it will still be possible to have eggs removed and frozen beforehand for later fertilization and implantation. Radical trachelectomy includes the ovaries and fallopian tubes, but it still leaves the uterus. Once again, eggs removed before or during the procedure will maintain the option.