[Dilemmas in the surgical treatment of cervical cancer]

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer of the female genital tract. There are 2200 newly registered cases of cervical cancer each year in Serbia, out of which 650 women die. The incidence of invasive, advanced cervical cancer has been on decrease, whereas the incidence of "in situ" stage carcinoma increases by 2% per year with tendency of increase in the younger age groups.

The first radical abdominal hysterectomy was performed by Ernst Wertheim from Wienna in 1898, whereas Schauta performed the first vaginal hysterectomy in 1902. It was in 1995 when Daniel Dargent introduced radical vaginal trachelectomy combined with laparoscopic lymphadenectomy in order to preserve fertility in cases of initial-invasive stages of cervical cancer (FIGO I A2, I B1).

Before choosing the surgical procedure, it is necessary to make a correct preoperative estimation of the stage of disease according to FIGO classification. Apart from gynecologic and rectovaginal examinations, in some cases it is necessary to perform additional examinations such as: cystoscopy, rectoscopy, CT or MRI examination of the pelvis, IVU, chest X-ray etc. The decision can be made only by an experienced gynecologist-surgeon who is able to solve all complications of treatment by himself.

There are different surgical procedures for cervical cancer: abdominal, vaginal and combined. Introduction of laparoscopic lymphadenectomy combined with vaginal radical operations, to decrease surgical trauma and preserve fertility, has been of great significance.