PREFACE THREE

Surgery for cervical cancer has evolved dramatically over the past 70 years. Due to advances in cervical cancer screening and the early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions, the incidence of cervical cancer continues to decrease year over year in many nations. Worldwide, however, cervical cancer, which largely affects younger women, remains the fourth most common gynecologic malignancy, as high rates persist in low-and middle-income countries. As the uptake of cervical cancer screening begins to increase in many of these nations more women will be diagnosed with localized as opposed to advanced-stage disease, warranting more precise, personalized treatment, especially for those who desire uterine preservation and future childbearing.

Historically, cervical cancer surgery has consisted of an upfront abdominal or vaginal radical hysterectomy to resect primary disease or an ultraradical pelvic exenteration to manage recurrent disease after radiation therapy. During my training in the 1990s, there were minimal less-radical options even for early-stage ⅠA-ⅠB1 cervical carcinoma, and fertility-sparing surgery was not available even in the most advanced cancer centers. As newer, less-invasive procedures were developed over the past three decades, the concept of fertility-sparing treatment for early-stage cervical cancer began to take hold, eventually becoming a standard of care in numerous practices worldwide and included in national and international guidelines.

This textbook, by Professor Xiaohua Wu and colleagues, is the first academic work of its kind in the field of fertility-sparing treatment for cervical cancer published in China. Professor Wu has put together a remarkable series of chapters that cover the most important aspects of cervical cancer treatment, with an emphasis on surgical anatomy, pathology, accurate imaging diagnostics, and the prioritization of fertilitysparing approaches, including conization, radical trachelectomy, minimally invasive approaches, uterine transplantation, and the management of cervical cancer during pregnancy.

I envision this work on the Fertility-Sparing Surgery for Cervical Cancer will quickly become an essential educational resource and guide for all gynecologists, gynecologic oncologists, and other physicians who care for women of reproductive age in China, enhancing the awareness, popularization, and dissemination of these life-changing techniques in a safe, responsible manner. I applaud my colleagues for this amazing work.

M. D., Prof.

Chief, Gynecology Service

Avon Chair Gynecologic Oncology

Weill Cornell Medical College

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Oct., 2022