Fertility sparing in young women with ovarian tumors

Background: Surveys have shown that fertility sparing in patients with ovarian tumors has proven to be effective. Thus this approach in ovarian tumor cases has been carried out. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome and pregnancies in women who suffered from ovarian tumor and underwent conservative treatment. Materials and Methods: All cases who received conservative treatment and those who had recurrence of the disease during the follow-up period were evaluated at Vali-Asr Hospital from 2000-2004. Results: 60 of 410 patients with ovarian tumor (age range: 13-34) were treated conservatively. Three patients (5%) were infertile. Histology of tumors showed: 26 (43.3%) germ cell tumors, 15 (25%) borderline tumors, ten (16.7%) epithelial tumors and nine (15%) sex cord tumors. The cases were followed for 12-48 months. Seven term pregnancies occurred in six patients. Three in the borderline group, two in the germ cell group, one in the epithelial group and one in the sex-cord group. Nine recurrences were reported among our cases. Two of the patients (serous carcinoma and immature teratoma, both Stage IIIc) died during follow-up due to refusal to undergo radical surgery. Conclusion: Fertility preserving surgery in young women with epithelial ovarian tumors, borderline and sex-cord tumors Stage I, grade 1 and 2 is recommended.