Techniques and endocrine‐reproductive outcomes of ovarian transposition prior to pelvic radiotherapy in both gynecologic and non‐gynecologic cancers: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

• Published in: International journal of gynecology and obstetrics 2024-06, Vol.165 (3), p.948-958
• Main Authors: Genovese, Fortunato, Zambrotta, Elisa, Incognito, Giosuè G., Gulino, Ferdinando A., Di Guardo, Federica, Genovese, Dominic, Di Gregorio, Luisa M., Benvenuto, Domenico, Ciancio, Fabio F., Leanza, Vito, Palumbo, Marco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Child; endocrine system; Female; Fertility Preservation - methods; Genital Neoplasms, Female - radiotherapy; Genital Neoplasms, Female - surgery; gynecologic surgery; Humans; infertility; Middle Aged; ovary; Ovary - radiation effects; Ovary - surgery; Pregnancy; premature ovarian failure; Primary Ovarian Insufficiency - etiology; radiotherapy; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0020-7292; 1879-3479
• DOI: 10.1002/ijgo.15229

Background Premature ovarian failure may be a consequence of radiotherapy administered for the treatment of various female oncologic diseases. Before radiotherapy, fertility may be preserved through ovarian transposition (OT), which consists of moving the ovaries away from the radiation field. Objective To ascertain all types of surgical techniques employed for OT, outline the endocrine and reproductive outcomes of each one, and discover if one works better than the others. Search strategy The authors performed a systematic search of the English literature looking for all studies related to OT before radiotherapy published up to June 2023. Nine studies were included. Selection criteria The eligible studies were assessed based on the presence of a description of the surgical technique employed for OT before pelvic radiotherapy and a report of the endocrine and reproductive outcomes. Data collection and analysis Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals were used to compare endocrine and reproductive outcomes The χ2 test was employed for the statistical analysis and a P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Main results A total of 323 female patients aged between 7 and 51 years—198 (61.3%) with non‐gynecologic cancer and 125 (38.7%) with gynecologic cancer—underwent OT, either bilateral (221, 68.4%) or unilateral (102, 31.6%), before radiotherapy. Essentially, two types of OT were employed: lateral and medial. A total of 71 (22%) patients underwent medial OT and 252 (78%) patients (127 with non‐gynecologic tumors and 125 with gynecologic tumors) had a lateral OT. The latter was used in a similar percentage of cases for gynecologic (50.4%) and non‐gynecologic (49.6%) tumors, whereas the medial approach was performed only for non‐gynecologic cancers (Hodgkin's lymphoma). The difference between medial OT and lateral OT was not significant regarding the preservation of endocrine function (OR 0.65, P = 0.120). However, midline OT worked better in terms of reproductive outcomes. In fact, the percentage of patients with pregnancy (49.2%) and live births (45%) associated with medial OT was significantly higher than that associated with lateral OT, 6.5% and 13.4%, respectively, and the difference between such data was statistically significant (OR 7.04, P = 0.001 and OR 5.29, P = 0.003, respectively). Conclusions Ovarian transposition is an important method to preserve fertility before radiotherapy, considering the worldwide ongoing use of this treatm