Hormonal activity of transposed ovaries in young women treated for cervical cancer

The purpose of this study was to assess the hormonal function of transposed ovaries in young women treated for cervical cancer. Between 1992 and 1998, in the Silesian Medical Academy in Bytom, 101 women underwent radical hysterectomy with ovarian transposition by the Wertheim-Meigs method. Concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin, estradiol and testosterone in blood serum and cytologic indices (maturation index, karyopyknotic index and maturation value) were assessed before surgery and on the ninth day after surgery. Patients were subsequently requested to return in July 1999 to have the hormonal activity of their ovaries assessed from the perspective of a few years after the operation, and the effect of supplementary radiotherapy soon after surgery. There was a statistically significant difference between those who had radiotherapy and those who did not with respect to climacteric complaints and hormonal parameters. A correlation was found between serum estradiol levels and maturation value. Proper ovarian hormonal function was still present in 69.8% of patients, even 60 months after surgery, but a lower bone mineral density was also observed. Ovarian transposition is a procedure that allows ovarian function to be preserved in young women treated for cervical cancer; it also helps to obviate the necessity for long-term hormone-replacement therapy. However attention must be paid to the concomitant possibility that women with cervical cancer may have a lower bone mineral density, and routine follow-up measurement of FSH levels or cytologic indices is advocated.