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The use of hormonal stimulation during fertility preservation does not increase the risk of relapse or disease-specific mortality in patients with breast cancer, according to a prospective study published in JAMA Oncology.
“Results of this study provide much needed additional evidence on the safety of fertility preservation procedures in women with breast cancer,” the study authors wrote.
The authors evaluated data from 1275 women, aged 21 to 42 years, diagnosed with breast cancer in Sweden between 1994 and 2017.
There were 425 patients who underwent fertility preservation and 850 who did not. Fertility preservation consisted of cryopreservation of oocytes and/or embryos with hormonal stimulation (n=367) or cryopreservation of ovarian tissue without hormonal stimulation (n=58).
The study’s primary outcome was disease-specific mortality. The secondary outcome was a composite of breast cancer death and relapse.
In a multivariate analysis, there was no significant difference in disease-specific mortality between patients who underwent fertility preservation with hormonal stimulation (hazard ratio [HR], 0.59; 95% CI, 0.32-1.09), those who underwent preservation without hormonal stimulation (HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.20-1.29), and those who did not undergo any fertility preservation (reference).
Similarly, the combined metric of relapse or breast cancer mortality was not significantly different between patients who underwent fertility preservation with hormonal stimulation (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.49-1.37), those who underwent preservation without hormonal stimulation (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.35-1.62), and those who did not undergo fertility preservation.
“Findings of this study support the safety of fertility preservation in women with breast cancer, which is highly relevant for reproductive counseling of women with breast cancer diagnosed at a young age,” the study authors wrote.
Disclosures: One study author declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.
Reference
Marklund A, Lekberg T, Hedayati E, et al. Relapse rates and disease-specific mortality following procedures for fertility preservation at time of breast cancer diagnosis. JAMA Oncol. Published online August 25, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.3677
