Conservative treatment of endometrial cancer in women of reproductive age (Review)

Endometrial cancer is the fifth most common female cancer worldwide and the third leading female cancer in the Western world. The marked surge in endometrial cancer incidence is alarming. The aim of the present review is to focus on endometrial cancer affecting young women of reproductive age. Surgery, namely abdominal or laparoscopic hysterectomy, with or without salpingo-oophorectomy, and sentinel lymph node detection has become the standard surgical strategy for early stage endometrioid endometrial cancer. However, premenopausal women might want to preserve their fertility, especially if they are nulliparous or have not reached their desired number of children at the time of diagnosis. Conservative, uterus-sparing treatment, based on progestin products, may be an advantageous option for patients meeting the necessary criteria. Potential candidates have to be committed to following a rigorous protocol of treatment, investigations and follow-up. The evidence in favor of this approach, although limited, is encouraging and patients who have achieved a histologically documented disease complete remission could attempt to conceive spontaneously or with the immediate use of assisted reproductive technology techniques. The risk of partial or negative response to progestin treatment or cancer recurrence is well documented, thus patients have to be aware of the possible need for interruption of conservative treatment and hysterectomy.