Hormonal activity of transposed ovaries in young women treated for cervical cancer

The purpose of this study war to assess the hormonal function of transposed ovaries in young women treated for cervical cancer. Between 1992 and 1998, in the Silesian Medical Academy in Bytom, 101 women underwent radical hyst erectomy with ovarian transposition by the Wertheim-Meigs method. Concentra tions of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), prol actin, estradiol and testosterone in blood serum and cytologic indices (mat uration index, karyopyknotic index and maturation value) were assessed befo re strategy and on the ninth day after surgery. Patients were subsequently requested to return in July 1999 to have the hormonal activity of their ova ries assessed from the perspective of a Jew years after the operation, and the effect of supplementary radiotherapy soon after surgery. There was a st atistically significant difference between those who had radiotherapy and t hose who did not with respect to climacteric complaints and hormonal parame ters. A correlation was found between serum estradiol level and maturation value. Proper ovarian hormonal function was still present in 69.8% of patie nts, even 60 months after surgery, but a lower bone mineral density was als o observed. Ovarian transposition is a procedure that allows ovarian function to be pre served in young women treated for cervical cancer; it also helps to obviate the necessity for long-term hormone-replacement therapy. However attention must be paid to the concomitant possibility that women with cervical cance r may have a lower bone mineral density, and routine follow-up measurement of FSH levels or cytologic indices is advocated.