Pregnancy despite ovarian insufficiency in a patient with breast cancer

Future fertility is a concern for many young breast cancer survivors. Secondary amenorrhea occurs frequently during or soon after oncologic treatment. Return of menstruation and serum biomarkers are not absolute predictors of future fertility. We report a case of a 28 year old gravida 0 with recurre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReproductive medicine and biology Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 35 - 38
Main Authors Mahany, Erica B., Hershman, Dawn L., Sauer, Mark V., Choi, Janet M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Japan Springer Japan 01.01.2013
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subjects
Amenorrhea
Breast cancer
Breast carcinoma
Breast neoplasms
Cancer therapies
Case Report
Case reports
Chemoradiotherapy
Chemotherapy
Fertility
Gynecology
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Menstruation
Ovarian function tests
Ovaries
Patients
Pregnancy
Reproductive Medicine
Urology
Womens health
Pregnancy
Breast neoplasms
Ovarian function tests
Fertility
Chemoradiotherapy
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Summary:Future fertility is a concern for many young breast cancer survivors. Secondary amenorrhea occurs frequently during or soon after oncologic treatment. Return of menstruation and serum biomarkers are not absolute predictors of future fertility. We report a case of a 28 year old gravida 0 with recurrent Stage IIB invasive ductal breast carcinoma who managed to conceive twice despite showing clinical and biochemical signs of decreased ovarian reserve following treatment with chemotherapy and radiation. This case illustrates the potential for fertility in a patient with breast cancer despite chemotherapy-related amenorrhea and undetectable anti-Müllerian hormone levels. It exemplifies the imprecise nature of all clinical tests used to predict future fertility in breast cancer patients post-treatment. It should remind all providers to be careful in basing recommendations for childbearing on these surrogate endpoints.
ISSN:1445-5781
1447-0578
DOI:10.1007/s12522-012-0133-x