Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026
Fertility Preservation Through Oocyte Vitrification: Clinical and Laboratory Perspectives
Published on: September 16, 2021
OPEC study: An international multicenter study of ovarian preservation in endometrial cancers
Utku Akgor1, Ali Ayhan2, Alexander Shushkevich3
1Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Objective:
To evaluate the feasibility and oncological safety of ovarian preservation in early stage endometrial adenocarcinoma (EC) patients aged 40 and below.
Methods:
A total of 11 institutions from eight countries participated in the study. 169 of 5898 patients aged ≤40 years were eligible for the study. Patients with EC treated between March 2007 and January 2019 were retrospectively assessed.
Results:
The median duration of follow-up after EC diagnosis was 59 months (4-187). Among 169 participants, ovarian preservation surgery (OPS) was performed in 54 (31.9%), and BSO was performed in 115 (68.1%) patients. Although patients younger than 30 years of age were more likely to have OPS than patients aged 30 to 40 years (20.4% vs. 9.6%, P = 0.021), there was no significant difference by the mean age. There were no other relevant baseline differences between OPS and BSO groups. The Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed no difference in either the overall survival (P = 0.955) or recurrence-free survival (P = 0.068) among patients who underwent OPS, and BSO.
Conclusion:
OPS appears to be safe without having any adverse impact on survival in women aged ≤40 years with FIGO Stage I EC.
