Abdominal radical trachelectomy: a Romanian series.
OBJECTIVE
Abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART) is one of the fertility-sparing procedures in women with early-stage cervical cancer. The published results of ART, in comparison with vaginal radical trachelectomy, so far are limited.


METHODS
This retrospective study comprises all cases of female patients referred to ART with early-stage cervical cancer from 2 gynecologic oncology centers in Romania.


RESULTS
A total of 29 women were referred for ART, but subsequently, fertility could not be preserved in 3 of them. Eleven women had stage IA2 disease (42.3%), 14 (53.8%) women had stage IB1 disease, and 1 (3.8%) woman had stage IB2 disease. Histologic subtypes were 15 (57.6%) squamous, 8 (30.7%) adenocarcinoma, and 3 (11.5%) adenosquamous. There were no major intraoperative complications in both hospitals. Early postoperative complications were mainly related to the type C parametrectomy-bladder dysfunction for more than 7 days (8 [30.7%] women) and prolonged constipation (6 [23.0%] women). Other complications consisted in symptomatic lymphocele in 2 (7.6%) patients, which were drained. Median follow-up time was 20 months (range, 4-43 months). Up to the present time, there has been 1 (3.8%) recurrence in our series. Most patients did not experience late postoperative complications. Three (11.5%) women are amenorrheic, and 1 (3.8%) woman developed a cervical stenosis. Of the 23 women who have normal menstruation and maintained their fertility, a total of 7 (30.4%) women have attempted pregnancy, and 3 (42.8%) of them achieved pregnancy spontaneously. These pregnancies ended in 2 first trimester miscarriages and 1 live birth at term by cesarean delivery.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results demonstrate that ART preserves fertility and maintains excellent oncological outcomes with low complication rates.
*First Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Târgu Mureş, Târgu Mureş; and †First Department of Oncologic Surgery, Gynecologic Oncology Unit, Regional Institute of Oncology, Iasi, Romania.
Mihai Emil
ME
Căpîlna
Nicolae
N
Ioanid
Viorel
V
Scripcariu
Madalina Mihaela
MM
Gavrilescu
Bela
B
Szabo
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000601:surgery*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D013509:Gynecologic Surgical Procedures; D006801:Humans; D059351:Organ Sparing Treatments; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012383:Romania; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult