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Fertility and Sterility Apr 2020This review sought to evaluate the current literature on reproductive and oncologic outcomes after fertility-sparing surgery for early stage cervical cancer (stage...
This review sought to evaluate the current literature on reproductive and oncologic outcomes after fertility-sparing surgery for early stage cervical cancer (stage IA1-IB1) including cold-knife conization/simple trachelectomy, vaginal radical trachelectomy, abdominal radical trachelectomy, and laparoscopic radical trachelectomy with or without robotic assistance. A systematic review using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) checklist to evaluate the current literature on fertility-sparing surgery for early stage cervical cancer and its subsequent clinical pregnancy rate, reproductive outcomes, and cancer recurrence was performed. Sixty-five studies were included encompassing 3,044 patients who underwent fertility-sparing surgery, including 1,047 pregnancies with reported reproductive outcomes. The mean clinical pregnancy rate of patients trying to conceive was 55.4%, with the highest clinical pregnancy rate after vaginal radical trachelectomy (67.5%). The mean live-birth rate was 67.9% in our study. Twenty percent of pregnancies after fertility-sparing surgery required assisted reproductive technology. The mean cancer recurrence rate was 3.2%, and the cancer death rate was 0.6% after a median follow-up period of 39.7 months with no statistically significant difference across surgical approaches. Fertility-sparing surgery is a reasonable alternative to traditional radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer in women desiring fertility preservation. Vaginal radical trachelectomy had the highest clinical pregnancy rate, and minimally invasive approaches to fertility-sparing surgery had equivalent oncologic outcomes compared with an abdominal approach. The results of our study allow for appropriate patient counseling preoperatively and highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to achieve the best outcomes for each patient.
Topics: Female; Fertility Preservation; Humans; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; Neoplasm Staging; Pregnancy; Prospective Studies; Reproduction; Retrospective Studies; Treatment Outcome; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
PubMed: 32228873
DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.02.003 -
The Cochrane Database of Systematic... Aug 2019Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynaecological malignancies with an overall five-year survival rate of 30% to 40%. In the past two decades it has...
BACKGROUND
Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynaecological malignancies with an overall five-year survival rate of 30% to 40%. In the past two decades it has become apparent and more commonly accepted that a majority of ovarian cancers originate in the fallopian tube epithelium and not from the ovary itself. This paradigm shift introduced new possibilities for ovarian cancer prevention. Salpingectomy during a hysterectomy for benign gynaecological indications (also known as opportunistic salpingectomy) might reduce the overall incidence of ovarian cancer. Aside from efficacy, safety is of utmost importance, especially due to the preventive nature of opportunistic salpingectomy. Most important are safety in the form of surgical adverse events and postoperative hormonal status. Therefore, we compared the benefits and risks of hysterectomy with opportunistic salpingectomy to hysterectomy without opportunistic salpingectomy.
OBJECTIVES
To assess the effect and safety of hysterectomy with opportunistic salpingectomy versus hysterectomy without salpingectomy for ovarian cancer prevention in women undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynaecological indications; outcomes of interest include the incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer, surgery-related adverse events and postoperative ovarian reserve.
SEARCH METHODS
The Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility (CGF) Group trials register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and two clinical trial registers were searched in January 2019 together with reference checking and contact with study authors.
SELECTION CRITERIA
We intended to include both randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs that compared ovarian cancer incidence after hysterectomy with opportunistic salpingectomy to hysterectomy without opportunistic salpingectomy in women undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynaecological indications. For assessment of surgical and hormonal safety, we included RCTs that compared hysterectomy with opportunistic salpingectomy to hysterectomy without opportunistic salpingectomy in women undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynaecological indications.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We used standard methodological procedures recommended by Cochrane. The primary review outcomes were ovarian cancer incidence, intraoperative and short-term postoperative complication rate and postoperative hormonal status. Secondary outcomes were total surgical time, estimated blood loss, conversion rate to open surgery (applicable only to laparoscopic and vaginal approaches), duration of hospital admission, menopause-related symptoms and quality of life.
MAIN RESULTS
We included seven RCTs (350 women analysed). The evidence was of very low to low quality: the main limitations being a low number of included women and surgery-related adverse events, substantial loss to follow-up and a large variety in outcome measures and timing of measurements.No studies reported ovarian cancer incidence after hysterectomy with opportunistic salpingectomy compared to hysterectomy without opportunistic salpingectomy in women undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynaecological indications. For surgery-related adverse events, there were insufficient data to assess whether there was any difference in both intraoperative (odds ratio (OR) 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.11 to 3.94; 5 studies, 286 participants; very low-quality evidence) and short-term postoperative (OR 0.13, 95% CI 0.01 to 2.14; 3 studies, 152 participants; very low-quality evidence) complication rates between hysterectomy with opportunistic salpingectomy and hysterectomy without opportunistic salpingectomy because the number of surgery-related adverse events was very low. For postoperative hormonal status, the results were compatible with no difference, or with a reduction in anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) that would not be clinically relevant (mean difference (MD) -0.94, 95% CI -1.89 to 0.01; I = 0%; 5 studies, 283 participants; low-quality evidence). A reduction in AMH would be unfavourable, but due to wide CIs, the postoperative change in AMH can still vary from a substantial decrease to even a slight increase.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There were no eligible studies reporting on one of our primary outcomes - the incidence of ovarian cancer specifically after hysterectomy with or without opportunistic salpingectomy. However, outside the scope of this review there is a growing body of evidence for the effectiveness of opportunistic salpingectomy itself during other interventions or as a sterilisation technique, strongly suggesting a protective effect. In our meta-analyses, we found insufficient data to assess whether there was any difference in surgical adverse events, with a very low number of events in women undergoing hysterectomy with and without opportunistic salpingectomy. For postoperative hormonal status we found no evidence of a difference between the groups. The maximum difference in time to menopause, calculated from the lower limit of the 95% CI and the natural average AMH decline, would be approximately 20 months, which we consider to be not clinically relevant. However, the results should be interpreted with caution and even more so in very young women for whom a difference in postoperative hormonal status is potentially more clinically relevant. Therefore, there is a need for research on the long-term effects of opportunistic salpingectomy during hysterectomy, particularly in younger women, as results are currently limited to six months postoperatively. This limit is especially important as AMH, the most frequently used marker for ovarian reserve, recovers over the course of several months following an initial sharp decline after surgery. In light of the available evidence, addition of opportunistic salpingectomy should be discussed with each woman undergoing a hysterectomy for benign indication, with provision of a clear overview of benefits and risks.
Topics: Female; Humans; Hysterectomy; Ovarian Neoplasms; Postoperative Complications; Quality of Life; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Salpingectomy; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 31456223
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012858.pub2