Fertility Preservation for Gynecologic Cancer | Memorial Sloan Kettering

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For a woman of childbearing age, treating a gynecologic cancer can often reduce or eliminate her chances of having a child. The good news is that there are a number of ways to protect a woman's fertility. Memorial Sloan Kettering experts discuss a range of fertility-sparing options for ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers.

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This is a good place to discuss fertility and what we can do to try to preserve fertility in the patient. What are some of the techniques that may allow a woman to maintain her fertility, even though she’s had treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy?

For Ovarian cancer, when it happens in young women, especially if it is a slow growing cell type, there is a role for a conserved fertility preserving surgery. That entails removing the effected tube and ovary, sampling the other side as well as sampling the lymph nodes, the omega fatty layers and establishing the stage of disease.

As Marty mentioned earlier, some of these patients may not need chemotherapy. We’re talking about a very select group of individuals in a very young age group with a very specific slow-growing cell type where fertility may be an option.

The majority of gynecologic malignancies where we are talking about procedures for fertility preservation have to do with disease in the cervix…