Update on abdominal radical trachelectomy

Abstract

The abdominal radical trachelectomy is one of the available fertility-sparing techniques in the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer. The procedure follows the steps of the standard radical hysterectomy and therefore does not require special training. A radical abdominal trachelectomy allows for the adjustment of radicality of the parametrial resection according to prognostic factors and is not limited by distorted cervicovaginal anatomy. The key limitation for the procedure remains the cranial extent of the tumor towards the internal cervical os. Only a limited number of successful pregnancies have been reported to date. Poor fertility outcome, however, may partially be attributed to the selection of patients, requiring more extensive procedure, for the abdominal approach. The abdominal radical trachelectomy is a technique of choice, especially in centers with limited experience with vaginal radical surgery, and in certain specific indications, such as pediatric patients, distorted vaginal anatomy, bulky exophytic tumor, or cervical cancer in the first half of pregnancy. In this article, we describe the standard technique of this procedure along with alternatives, including a nerve-sparing modification of the parametrectomy.