Routine post-operative care in high dependency unit (HDU), surgical intensive care unit (SICU) and intensive care unit (ICU) after high-risk gynaecological oncology surgical procedures may allow for greater recognition and correct management of post-operative complications, thereby reducing long-term morbidity and mortality. On the other hand, unnecessary admissions to these units lead to increased morbidity - nosocomial infections, increased length of hospital stay and higher hospital costs. Gynaecological oncology surgeons continue to look after their patient in the HDU/SICU and have the final role in decision-making on day-to-day basis, making it important to be well versed in critical care management and ensure the best care for their patients. Post-operative monitoring and the presence of comorbid illnesses are the most common reasons for admission to the HDU/SICU. Elderly and malnutritioned patients, as well as, bowel resection, blood loss or greater fluid resuscitation during the surgery have prolonged HDU/SICU stay. Patients with ovarian cancer have a worse survival outcome than the patients with other types of gynaecological cancer. Dependency care is a part of surgical management and it should be incorporated formally into gynaecologic oncology training programme.
Cancer of the uterine cervix, following breast cancer, is the second leading cause of death among gynecological cancers in the developed world. Traditionally, surgical management of early-stage cervical carcinoma is considered as a "sterilizing" procedure, since the uterus is removed. Nowadays, because of the postponement of childbearing to an older age, women younger than 45 years old who are diagnosed with early-stage cervical cancer have a strong desire to preserve fertility. Radical trachelectomy (vaginal or abdominal route) is used for fertility preservation in cases of early-stage (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Stages IA-IB1) cervical carcinomas with remarkable oncological and obstetrical outcomes. However, less radical approaches for ideal candidates may prove safe when fertility preservation is probably feasible.
In the past few decades fertility preservation has emerged as a treatment modality for cervical cancer patients. Different surgical methods have been described, such as open or minimally invasive trachelectomy and gross cervical conisation combined with laparoscopic lymphadenectomy. A thirty-year-old nulliparous woman with uterine cervical cancer FIGO stage IB2 (classification from 2009) underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy. After three cycles of chemotherapy with cisplatin and iphosphamide there was no colposcopic findings of cervical invasion, therefore a conservative surgery was performed. The patient underwent laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy, cervical amputation and the endocervical curettage. The histopathology confirmed a complete response to chemotherapy.
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