Ovarian tumors need not cause infertility

A conservative approach to the treatment of a rare form of ovarian cancer, called ovarian germ cell malignancies, allows young women to conceive afterwards, Yale scientists have found. In a study published in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Peter E. Schwartz, M.D., HS ’70, the John Slade Ely Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, followed the cases of 86 women, most of whom had undergone fertility-preserving treatment in which only the affected ovary was removed. Of 38 women who attempted to conceive, 29 became pregnant. To date, their children have shown no developmental abnormalities.