Abstract
This review article presents the currently available options in the field of fertility-preserving therapeutic methods in oncology. The issue is pertinent especially in the Czech Republic, where the recent trends in parenthood planning have lead to pregnancies often being postponed to later ages than was previously seen as usual.
In the under-40 age group, the most commonly occurring gynaecological tumours belong to the cervical carcinomas group, other groups include malignant tumours of the ovaries; malignant tumours of the endometrium and malignant forms of the trophoblastic disease are encountered less often and carcinomas of the vulva are the least common type. Especially in young women, certain rare types of tumours can be found in the reproductive system (rhabdomyosarcomas in the uterus or vagina, sarcomas in the soft tissues of the vulva or the uterus, or melanomas in the vulva or vagina).
Decisions about carrying out fertility-preserving therapeutic methods must always be preceded by team-based judgment involving specialists in various fields, in which an onco-gynaecologist should have the leading role. The roles of an experienced clinical oncologist, a histo-pathologist, a radiotherapist and a specialised radio-diagnostician are very important as well.
The key part in ultimately deciding the course of action, however, has to be taken by the (ideally well-informed) patient herself, people close to her, if she so wishes, and if she is underage, then also her legal guardian. The article describes the most commonly applied fertilitypreserving therapeutic methods in patients with malignant gynaecologic tumours.