Abstract
Research question
Does ovarian stimulation for oocyte vitrification affect disease-free survival and
overall survival rates in women with early breast cancer?
Design
This cohort study included 259 patients with early breast cancer; 148 patients underwent
ovarian stimulation, whereas 111 patients did not. Patients were treated between January
2008 and December 2016. To calculate the disease-free survival time and overall survival
rate, the time of definitive surgery was defined as the starting point. The follow-up
was conducted up to 5 years.
Results
Exposed and non-exposed groups were comparable in tumour, node and metastases classification,
Nottingham grade, hormonal receptor status, tumour molecular phenotype, histology
and pathology stage. The exposed group was younger than the non-exposed. Recurrences
occurred in 9/148 women (6.1%) in the exposed group and 15/111 women (13.5%) in the
non-exposed group, with no significant difference. The mean disease-free survival
time was 63.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 61.5–66.4) in the exposed group
and 60.6 months (95% CI: 56.9–64.2) in the non-exposed, with no significant difference
(log-rank [Mantel–Cox] test). Overall survival rates were comparable; 2/148 (1.4%)
and 4/111 (3.6%) patients died, in exposed and non-exposed groups, respectively, during
the period analysed. Mean overall survival times were 67.2 months (95% CI: 66.2–68.2)
in the exposed group and 65.9 months (95% CI: 64.0–67.9) in the unexposed, with no
significant difference (log-rank [Mantel–Cox] test).
Conclusions
This study suggests that ovarian stimulation in patients with early-stage breast cancer
is safe in the long term.
Keywords
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Biography
Elkin Muñoz, Director of IVIRMA Vigo and IVIRMA Coruña, graduated in gynaecology from Cauca University, Colombia, with a PhD in reproductive medicine from Valencia University, Spain. He is a reproductive medicine specialist, Assistant Professor at Vigo University and Associate Editor of international journals, having himself published over 15 peer-reviewed articles.Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 10, 2019
Accepted:
July 5,
2019
Received in revised form:
July 3,
2019
Received:
March 6,
2019
Footnotes
Declaration: The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
