Fertility preservation during cancer treatment: clinical guidelines

The majority of children, adolescents, and young adults diagnosed with cancer today will become long-term survivors. The threat to fertility that cancer treatments pose to young patients cannot be prevented in many cases, and thus research into methods for fertility preservation is developing, aiming at offering cancer patients the ability to have biologically related children in the future. This paper discusses the current status of fertility preservation methods when infertility risks are related to surgical oncologic treatments, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. Several scientific groups and societies have developed consensus documents and guidelines for fertility preservation. Decisions about fertility and imminent potentially gonadotoxic therapies must be made rapidly. Timely and complete information on the impact of cancer treatment on fertility and fertility preservation options should be presented to all patients when a cancer treatment is planned.

Prospective study of fertility concerns and preservation strategies in young women with breast cancer

PURPOSE

Most research regarding fertility in young women with breast cancer has focused on long-term survivors. Little is known about how fertility concerns affect treatment decisions or fertility preservation strategies at the time of initial cancer diagnosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

As part of an ongoing prospective multicenter cohort study, we surveyed women with newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancer at age ≤ 40 years. The baseline survey included sociodemographic, medical, and treatment data as well as a modified Fertility Issues Survey, including fertility concern and preservation items. Univariable and multivariable modeling were used to investigate predictors of greater fertility concern.

RESULTS

Among the first 620 eligible respondents included in this analysis, median age was 37 years (range, 17 to 40 years); 425 women (68%) discussed fertility issues with their physicians before starting therapy, and 319 (51%) were concerned about becoming infertile after treatment. Because of concerns about fertility, four women (1%) chose not to receive chemotherapy, 12 (2%) chose one chemotherapy regimen over another, six (1%) considered not receiving endocrine therapy, 19 (3%) decided not to receive endocrine therapy, and 71 (11%) considered receiving endocrine therapy for < 5 years; 65 (10%) used fertility preservation strategies. Greater concern about fertility was associated with younger age, nonwhite race, not having children, and receipt of chemotherapy.

CONCLUSION

Many young women with newly diagnosed breast cancer have concerns about fertility, and for some, these substantially affect their treatment decisions. Only a minority of women currently pursue available fertility preservation strategies in this setting.

Protection of ovarian function by GnRH agonists during chemotherapy: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis was designed to assess the overall performance of GnRHa in preserving the ovarian function in young women undergoing chemotherapy. Electronic literature databases including Pubmed, MEDLINE, Cochrane library, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang were searched for articles published till November, 2013. The articles written in both Chinese and English were considered. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were selected. Main Outcome Measure was evaluated by assessing the post‑chemotherapy ovarian function. A random-effects model was used to calculate the risk ratio (RR) and associated 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Out of the eight RCTs including 621 patients, 321 women were treated with GnRHa during chemotherapy, 9.66% of whom suffered premature ovarian failure (POF). On the other hand, 26.67% of the remaining 300 women suffered POF. More women treated without GnRHa experienced post-chemotherapy POF, yielding an RR of 0.45 [chemotherapy plus GnRHa vs. chemotherapy alone, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.22, 0.92)]. Based on the available studies, GnRHa plays an important role in the prevention of post-chemotherapy POF, but does not exhibit its protective effects in fertility.

Anti-Mullerian hormone: determination of ovarian reserve in early breast cancer patients

Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women of reproductive age. In young women, chemotherapy may induce amenorrhea: it is still uncertain how to assess menopausal status in these patients despite the importance of its definition for choosing appropriate endocrine treatment. In the development of sensitive biomarkers for fertility and ovarian reserve, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is considered a promising marker of ovarian reserve. The clearest data regarding a clinical use of AMH are related to the measurement of the ovarian pool in women who undergo IVF: the available data, also in breast cancer patients, seem to suggest that AMH measurement, before gonadotropin administration, can be a useful marker for the prediction of women at risk for poor-response or no response to ovarian stimulation. The utility of AMH as a potential marker of chemotherapy-induced ovarian follicular depletion and an early plasma marker of chemotherapy-induced gonadal damage has been evaluated both in young women after treatment for cancer in childhood and in young survivors of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Several studies have demonstrated a potential utility of AMH, inhibin, or follicle-stimulating factor as biomarkers predicting infertility risk in breast cancer patients, but the studies conducted so far are not conclusive. Further studies are needed in order to define the regimen-specific action of chemotherapy on AMH levels, the percentage of post-treatment recovery of plasma levels of the hormone, and the relationship between menopausal status and AMH.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced premature ovarian failure in cancer women: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials

BACKGROUND

The role of temporary ovarian suppression with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa) in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced premature ovarian failure (POF) is still controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials evaluating the efficacy of GnRHa, given before and during chemotherapy, in the prevention of POF in premenopausal cancer patients.

METHODS

Studies were retrieved by searching PubMed, Web of Knowledge database and the proceedings of major conferences. We calculated Odds Ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for POF from each trial and obtained pooled estimates through the random effects model as suggested by DerSimonian and Laird.

RESULTS

Nine studies were included in the meta-analysis with 225 events of POF occurring in 765 analyzed patients. The pooled OR estimate indicates a highly significant reduction in the risk of POF (OR=0.43; 95% CI: 0.22-0.84; p=0.013) in patients receiving GnRHa. There was statistically significant heterogeneity among studies (I(2)=55.8%; p=0.012). There was no evidence of publication bias. Subgroups analyses showed that the protective effect of GnRHa against POF was similar in subgroups of patients defined by age and timing of POF assessment, while it was present in breast cancer but unclear in ovarian cancer and lymphoma patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Our pooled analysis of randomized studies shows that the temporary ovarian suppression induced by GnRHa significantly reduces the risk of chemotherapy-induced POF in young cancer patients.