Simple vaginal trachelectomy for early stage cervical cancer: A tertiary cancer center experience

Less radical fertility sparing procedures have been introduced to reduce morbidity and adverse obstetric outcome in cervical cancer. Our objective was to describe oncological and obstetric outcomes of women with early-stage cervical cancer who underwent a simple vaginal trachelectomy (SVT).

From 01/2013 to 05/2017, 14 women underwent SVT preceded by laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection.

Patients' median age was 32 years and all of them were nulliparous. Histology included squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma in 12 (85.7%) and 2 (14.3%) patients, respectively. Three patients had stage 1A1 with lymphovascular space invasion, 4 1A2 and 7 1B1. After obtaining final histopathology, one patient underwent radical hysterectomy due to positive surgical margin and excluded from analysis. None of the patients had lymph node metastasis. None of the 13 patients developed a recurrence within a median follow-up of 27 (6-56) months. Seven patients have conceived: 4 were term deliveries, 2 were late preterm deliveries and 1 was spontaneous abortion.

SVT in well selected early-stage cervical cancer patients seems to be a safe treatment option with excellent oncologic outcome, preserving reproductive function. Literature data will need to be confirmed in large prospective series.