How To Conceive After Cervical Cancer Treatment

A number of women seek an answer to this query. "Is it possible for me to conceive after going through a cervical cancer treatment?" Well, it might be. Our expert Dr. Rita Bakshi explains how.

What is cervical cancer?

"Cervical cancer is a cancer of the mouth of the uterus or the cervix. In the extremely early stages, conization can be performed or the lymph nodes can be taken into consideration. However, if it progresses to the later stages and invades the layers of the cervix or the uterus, then it requires the removal of the uterus or the lymph nodes. All these depend on the stage of cancer, which, again affect the chances of conception in the future," Dr. Bakshi explains.

What are its treatment options?

According to Dr. Rita Bakshi, "Well, it all depends on the stage of cancer diagnosed. If it is a pre-cancerous stage or an early stage of cancer, conization can help. This procedure involves the removal of the cone of the cervix but the rest of the cervix remains, then pregnancy can be considered. However, if it is an advanced stage, then the treatment involves the removal of the uterus. Hence the chances of pregnancy come to an end. Only in the early stages of cancer like stage 1 or stage 2A, can a woman think of conceiving after cancer treatment," Dr. Bakshi said.

How does it impact fertility?

"Also, because it involves a lot of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the disease can have an impact on the ovaries and the eggs. So the chances of conceiving would be much lesser because her eggs would be left sterile. Unless the eggs are harvested from a woman's body and frozen, they will be exposed to radiations and chemotherapy which an eventually affect a woman's chances of conceiving in life," says Dr. Bakshi.

How to conceive of cervical cancer treatment?

"However, if a woman is looking for ways to conceive after cervical cancer treatment, she can consider a few techniques. One is egg preservation. A woman can freeze her eggs after getting them harvested. This way she can either try to conceive on her own or keep them for surrogacy. This way a woman can preserve her chances of having own biological child," says Dr. Bakshi.

"Even if it is a later stage of cancer before the patient undergoes radiotherapy or chemotherapy, the eggs can be removed and put into a freeze. This acts as a ray of hope for conception or least having a biological child through surrogacy," Dr. Bakshi concluded.

(Dr. Rita Bakshi is Chairperson of the International Fertility Centre)

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