Can Women With Gynecological Cancer Have Children?

Women who have gynecological cancer in their thirties, who want to maintain their reproductive ability and who have certain conditions can also be protected from having a baby. “If the size of the tumor and the region where it is located are available, it is possible to apply organ protective treatment in cervical, uterine and ovarian cancers that meet certain conditions,” the experts say.

In cervical, uterine, and ovarian cancer diseases called gynecological cancers, he explains his reasoning by stating that organ protective treatment applications can now be taken as a basis:

Can Women With Gynecological Cancer Have Children?

Some gynecological cancers are seen after the age of 35. Especially cervical cancer, the first peak is between the ages of 35-39. At this age, a woman who is newly married and wants to have children is likely to experience cervical cancer. It is very natural for this woman to want to survive, that is, to get rid of this disease and have children.

We have been able to treat women who have not had cervical cancer but who have precursor lesions of cervical cancer for many years without loss of an organ by protecting both their cervix and uterus. Now, after passing the stages of cervical cancer, we can perform the treatment in a significant number of women who have cervical cancer, if the child is desired, without taking the uterus.

Cervical Cancer

Experts say that treatment to protect the reproductive capacity of women in cervical cancer depends on certain conditions:

The first condition is that the tumor is small. The woman should have the ability to give birth, that is, she should have an egg reserve in her ovaries that can have a baby. In such a woman, if the tumor is small and there is no spread to the lymph nodes, it is possible to remove the cervix region from the side wall of the pelvis with its ligaments over the roof bones, to reassemble the part of the uterus that carries the child (corpus) with the vagina, and to perform such a treatment by taking the lymph nodes.

Stating that they sent the cervical region removed by surgery to pathology and thus understood whether the entire tumor was removed, the experts: “We can also evaluate this with the imaging methods we performed before the surgery. It is possible to treat a small cancer that is already localized in the cervix, which we know does not spread to the lymph in imaging methods. In these patients, we want pelvis and all abdominal MRIs. After knowing whether there is spread to the lymph nodes with the PET-CT method and to the lungs with the lung CT method, we decide on this treatment."

Stating that cervical cancer has nothing to do with the ovaries, the physician says that cervical cancer has almost no spread to the ovaries, so they do not apply any surgical treatment to the ovaries.

Ovarian Cancer

Experts say that more than one cancer can emerge from the ovary, and they describe these types of cancer as follows:

Cancers originating from epithelium on the outer wall of the ovary are called epithelial ovarian cancers. In the ovary, there are egg cells (germ cells) that sustain our generation. Cancers that come out of egg cells are called germ cell cancers. We also refer to the tissues around the germ cells as stroma. These tissues make hormones. Tumors originating from the tissue that makes this hormone are also called stromal tumors.

Until today, it is stated that organ protective treatment is being performed in cases who do not want to lose their reproductive capacity in germ and stromal cell ovarian cancers that want a baby.

In epithelial ovarian cancers originating from the epithelium on the outer wall of the egg, failure to perform organ-sparing treatment until the last five years is attributed to the fact that this type of cancer is extremely lethal, the primary goal of the physician is to ensure the survival of the patient. Experts say that organ protection is also possible in tumors emerging from the epithelium as a result of new studies, explaining the conditions necessary for the application of the method:

The tumor remained completely on the inner surface of that cyst in the ovary, did not spread to the other ovary in any way, did not spread to the inner membrane of the abdomen, abdominal tissues, abdominal lavage water, lymph tissues, and especially if it is a benign serous or mucinous type tumor, it is possible to perform organ protective treatment by taking only the ovary from which the cancer came out, leaving the intact ovary and uterus.”

Experts say that a woman who does not lose her uterus with surgery and has a single ovary can maintain her reproductive ability.

In the ovary, there may be "borderline ovarian tumors", which are not called cancer, but have the ability to pass between cancer and normal tissue, and in this case, organ protective treatment can be performed again. Even if there is a borderline tumor in both ovaries, we can destroy the tumor without removing the ovaries and uterus.

Intrauterine Cancer

Experts say that intrauterine (endometrial) cancers are a type of cancer that is rarely seen in young women, point out one point:

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (no ovulation) may have endometrial cancer in their 30s. Because the intrauterine membrane, which is exposed to only estrogen for a long time, can become cancerous over time.

Experts say that at the age of 35, when you are at the stage of infertility or IVF treatment, you may encounter a disease such as endometrial cancer as a result of a biopsy that your doctor suspects and takes, and express the conditions required to perform organ-preserving treatment as follows:

It should be determined by imaging methods that the cancer is very superficial, it is a hormone-dependent cancer, and the tumor does not spread to the uterine wall. High-dose progestins are given to the patient and it is investigated whether the disease responds to this drug. If it responds and the tumor has regressed, after intrauterine evaluation with hysteroscopy (lens system), the patient is directed to the IVF center to conceive in a short time. Because we do not have long to wait for a woman's spontaneous pregnancy. There is a possibility of recurrence of the disease.