During breast cancer, about 40% of women 40 years old become infertile because of their treatment.
A 34-year-old French woman who could not get pregnant after treatment for breast cancer was able to give birth to a child thanks to a new technique consisting in collecting her immature eggs before freezing them. A feat mentioned on Wednesday February 19 in the medical publication Annals of Oncology (article in English).
“This success represents an important step forward in the field of fertility preservation”, rejoiced Michaël Grynberg, director of the department of reproductive medicine at the Antoine-Béclère hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), where this “world premiere” in the context of cancer.
Women under the age of 40 who are going to undergo treatment that may affect their fertility, including chemotherapy, are offered to freeze their oocytes to preserve their chances of future pregnancy. Normally, mature eggs are taken after hormonal stimulation. But in hormone-dependent breast cancers, as was the case with Michaël Grynberg’s patient, stimulation is contraindicated.
His team therefore took seven immature oocytes before bringing them to maturity in the laboratory for 48 hours, then vitrifying them (an ultra-rapid freezing method which allows better preservation), details the article published in the medical journal.
The patient was then treated for breast cancer with chemotherapy. After five years without relapse, she was declared cured but could not conceive, due to the treatments received. Her oocytes were then thawed and inseminated in vitro. One of the five eggs thus formed was successfully implanted, and the patient gave birth in July 2019 to a healthy baby boy named Jules.
This in vitro maturation technique (IVM) had already made it possible to give birth to children after immediate fertilization and implantation, without freezing. “We show that this technique, even if it is probably a little less effective today” that the freezing of oocytes taken at maturity, “can still allow to have children”, said Michaël Grynberg.
Two other pregnancies are currently in progress at the Clamart University Hospital after using the same technique, he added.
During breast cancer, about 40% of 40 year old women become infertile because of their treatment, and 15% to 20% of 30 year old women, estimates the obstetrician-gynecologist, stressing the importance of preserving fertility in young women being treated for cancer.
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