Younger women with early-stage breast cancer who took a drug to suppress their ovaries were more likely to avert early menopause caused by chemotherapy, researchers found.
The treatment, triptorelin, helped patients avoid the permanent loss of their fertility that can be prompted by chemotherapy's toxic doses, according to research published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Two out of every five women under 40 who undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer lose the ability to conceive children, the researchers said. The use of triptorelin reduced the rate of early menopause by more than 17 percentage points, according to the results of a late-stage clinical trial called Promise-GIM6.
Lucia Del Mastro, an oncologist at the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa, Italy said; "Because the prevention of early menopause is the essential condition for fertility maintenance, women may more easily accept chemotherapy,". "This strategy increases the probability of ovarian function maintenance but it doesn’t assure the fertility."
Triptorelin may stave off menopause and increase the probability of staying fertile by reducing levels of the hormone that stimulates the ovaries. Because chemotherapy targets areas with "rapid cellular turnover," ovaries that are rendered dormant with the drug may be protected.
Sources: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-19/breast-cancer-patients-may-keep-fertility-with-drug-study-finds.html
The treatment, triptorelin, helped patients avoid the permanent loss of their fertility that can be prompted by chemotherapy's toxic doses, according to research published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Two out of every five women under 40 who undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer lose the ability to conceive children, the researchers said. The use of triptorelin reduced the rate of early menopause by more than 17 percentage points, according to the results of a late-stage clinical trial called Promise-GIM6.
Lucia Del Mastro, an oncologist at the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa, Italy said; "Because the prevention of early menopause is the essential condition for fertility maintenance, women may more easily accept chemotherapy,". "This strategy increases the probability of ovarian function maintenance but it doesn’t assure the fertility."
Triptorelin may stave off menopause and increase the probability of staying fertile by reducing levels of the hormone that stimulates the ovaries. Because chemotherapy targets areas with "rapid cellular turnover," ovaries that are rendered dormant with the drug may be protected.
Sources: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-19/breast-cancer-patients-may-keep-fertility-with-drug-study-finds.html
