Fertility-Sparing Options in Young Women with Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most frequent tumor and the fourth most common cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Furthermore, more than 40 % of women with early CC are affected during reproductive age and wish to remain fertile. Thus, many patients demand a more conservative policy for managing these lesions in order to have an uneventful pregnancy in the near future. For this reason, interest in fertility preservation strategies has been increasing, and the number of published studies on this topic has grown significantly. Conization was the first fertility-sparing surgical procedure tested in stage IA1 CC. However, in recent decades, other strategies have been tested, particularly for more advanced tumors. The aim of this review is to analyze the main techniques performed in patients with CC who are eligible for fertility-sparing surgery, with particular attention paid to open questions and controversies.