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Fertility Sparing Surgery
October 25, 2009 |
Thanks to new technology, some women diagnosed with early stage gynecological cancer
may have the opportunity to expand their family down the road. “We feel that its
important that if a patient has a tumor at a young age, that they seek out the appropriate
specialist in that area so that at least if potential fertility-sparing can be offered,
that it is offered,” suggests Dr. Edward Grendys, a gynecologic oncologist on the
Lee Memorial Health System medical staff.
Fertility-sparing surgery is a technique that conserves an ovary or the uterus and
increases the chances of having a baby in the future. “There are certain types of
tumors, most commonly called germ-cell tumors, which as long as they are being treated
by the appropriate physician who understands the pathology of the disease; we will
see young women with ovarian tumors that yes, they are malignant but we can do fertility-sparing
surgery on them,” explains Dr. Grendys.
He says the stage of the cancer and the treatment of that cancer is first and foremost.
This will ultimately determine whether or not fertility-sparing surgery is good
for the patient. “If we need to remove both ovaries, and that is relatively rare,
at times, we can preserve the uterus, which can at least allow for surrogacy which
is using a donor egg either from a family member, a friend, or there are certain
donation banks where they can actually get surrogate eggs and or reproductive products
from those surrogacy banks,” adds Dr. Grendys.
And to date, there’s been no evidence of any harmful risks to the fetus should a
woman decide to have a baby after being treated for gynecological cancers with chemotherapy.
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