Cancer is generally defined as cells spreading to other organs instead of where they should be and continuing to multiply there. The exact cause of breast cancer is not known, but it is the excessive proliferation of cells in the mammary glands and milk ducts, and the formation of tumor-like cells that are likely to settle in other organs. IVF treatment is important for mothers and fathers who cannot have a baby naturally. This treatment consists of a series of procedures that involve fertilizing the sperm taken from the father and the eggs taken from the mother in a laboratory environment and then transferring the fertilized eggs back to the mother. However, there are certain medications and hormone injections used to develop the mother's eggs.
The Impact of Breast Cancer on Fertility
Breast cancer is an important factor that reduces fertility in women, so our breast cancer patients apply for in vitro fertilization treatment. Breast cancer is seen in 8% of women every year.
As with every treatment, early diagnosis is very important in breast cancer and early diagnosis accounts for most of the success of the treatment. In our society, women are now postponing marriage and having children, but when the rates are taken into account, it is seen that many women are diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40. In other words, most women are actually diagnosed with breast cancer before they have children. In patients who start breast cancer treatment, the fertility rate is gradually decreasing. When our patients who have started cancer treatment and have undergone this treatment cannot conceive naturally, they resort to some alternative treatments, the most important of which is in vitro fertilization .
The drugs given to the patient for breast cancer treatment significantly reduce fertility, for example, early menopause is seen in our patients who receive chemotherapy, which is a condition that destroys fertility in itself. In today's conditions, the ovaries can be suppressed using certain drugs before chemotherapy, which can reduce the possibility of early menopause by 10%. It is not possible to completely preserve the ovaries after cancer treatment.
Embryo Freezing Process in IVF Treatment
Embryos created through in vitro fertilization can be frozen and stored for many years. When patients undergoing breast cancer treatment overcome the disease and decide to become pregnant, the embryos that were taken and stored in the past are thawed and transferred back to the mother's uterus. After the healthy embryo is re-introduced into the body, pregnancy occurs to a large extent. However, if our patient is not married, they will not perform an embryo transfer in Turkey because the laws prevent this.
A negative aspect of the embryo freezing process is that this process takes approximately 1 month, but patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and have not yet started treatment may wait for this process and postpone the treatment, which may cause much bigger problems and cause the disease to progress. In addition, IVF treatment does not have a very high success rate at first, in fact, the chance rate at the first attempt is around 40%. For this reason, the number of frozen embryos must be high; because even if the treatment is completed and IVF treatment is started, the chance of getting pregnant at the first attempt is low. The patient may experience great psychological distress during this process. Both breast cancer treatment and IVF treatment can be exhausting. Couples who want to overcome the problems and have a baby despite everything expect pregnancy at the first treatment, but when this does not happen, they will be completely disappointed. In order to be able to try more than one, a lot of embryos need to be stored, and of course, this means a lot of hormone medication. As hormones increase, estrogen in the body also increases, and increased estrogen causes the tumor to grow even more in women with breast cancer.
If a patient undergoing breast cancer treatment wants to undergo in vitro fertilization treatment, the drugs used should be those that do not affect or increase estrogen levels too much.
Does IVF Treatment Increase Breast Cancer Risk?
Studies have not found any findings that patients undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment have an increase in breast cancer. However, the hormone drugs used raise the question of whether the hormone drugs given trigger cancer cells. No significant statistical result has been found for this. When a woman delays her first birth until later in life, this increases her risk of breast cancer. As the number of births increases, the risk of breast cancer also decreases. Age also plays a very important role in in vitro fertilization treatment. Studies have shown that the risk of breast cancer in patients who start in vitro fertilization treatment under the age of 24 increases very slightly. However, when considered in general, the rate of developing breast cancer in patients undergoing infertility (inability to conceive) treatment is 18%, while this rate is 12% in patients who do not receive infertility treatment. No risk was observed in patients who are over the age of 40 and start treatment.
Since the emergence of IVF treatment, the effects of hormone drugs used have been a constantly questioned and current issue. Breast cancer and ovarian cancer have been considered as the main risks. The reason why no clear research has been conducted so far is that the observation period and the number of patients to be observed in IVF treatment, which is already new, are small. It is thought that more definitive information will be obtained in the future with increasing duration and patients. Of course, the main reasons that increase the risk of breast cancer are hereditary characteristics and lifestyle. The effects of hormone drugs on breast cancer can only be investigated after all effects are ignored. Of course, hormone drugs can be effective in breast cancer, but observations over the years have shown that most patients who have breast cancer are women who have not yet given birth or are not involved in pregnancy.
The result is that women who have not given birth and are not breastfeeding actually have a higher rate of getting sick. For mothers who get pregnant, give birth and breastfeed with IVF treatment, the treatment will be a kind of protection. For this reason, it can even be said that IVF treatment reduces the risk of breast cancer.
Despite all the research and discussions, it can be said that IVF does not pose a serious risk for breast cancer. Since IVF treatment started to increase in the 90s and a cancer cell reaches 1 cm3 in size in about 7 years, a little more time should pass and women who received IVF treatment at that time should be examined. In fact, whether you receive IVF treatment or not, the risk of breast cancer is in your life just because you are a woman. Of course, there are many reasons in your daily life that will affect this situation and increase the risk.
The important thing is to be aware of this risk, to undergo regular check-ups and to examine yourself at home at short intervals. However, the stress factor is actually undeniably important. The mother-to-be who cannot have children and has many psychological problems in this regard is at risk not only for cancer but also for all other diseases triggered by stress. What is important in both cancer treatment and in vitro fertilization treatment is to overcome these with the least damage and the least stress level. In addition to the treatments you receive, definitely get psychological help from a specialist doctor you trust and feel comfortable with. Be sure that this help is of great importance for you to overcome both the treatment and the disease much more quickly and much more quickly.
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