A 34-year-old French woman suffering from breast cancer a few years ago has just given birth thanks to a new technique. Treated by chemotherapy, she was declared cured of her cancer after five years without relapse. But she hadn’t been able to conceive a baby since her recovery. Last July, thanks to the freezing of her ovaries, she finally managed to give birth to a healthy little boy.
At the origin of this feat, Professor Michaël Grynberg, director of the department of reproductive medicine at Antoine Béclère hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), where this operation took place which he describes as “first World “. It sheds light on the process.
What is the technique used?
It consists of taking eggs, not after ovarian stimulation as usual, but directly from the ovaries, without any administration of hormones. Usually, the role of hormones is to ripen eggs in their natural environment (the ovary) before they are collected. This time, we retrieved the eggs from the ovary before they ripened. Then we went through the final maturation process in the laboratory.
How is this a “world first”?
This technique already existed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. What is new is the freezing of these matured oocytes in the laboratory. Previously, they had never really demonstrated their ability to be frozen, and then to lead to pregnancy. This is why it is really new. For a woman who has suffered breast cancer in the past, it is certain that this is the first pregnancy. This shows that the technique is interesting in cases where we cannot stimulate the patients.
Why can women experience difficulty conceiving after breast cancer?
Cancer does not make sterile proper. Rather, it is treatments, such as chemotherapy. It should be remembered that the woman carries out her reproductive life from a predefined stock of eggs at birth, a stock contained in the ovaries. But chemotherapy destroys it. To put it simply, the ovaries of a woman who is undergoing chemotherapy will suddenly age ten years, in terms of quantity.
There is also a qualitative problem. As the eggs do not regenerate, they are necessarily impregnated with chemotherapy. They are therefore of lower quality. This causes a decrease in the chances of pregnancy and an increased risk of miscarriages. Finally, what also makes women infertile in this situation is the time during which they cannot be pregnant (5 years). And in women, unfortunately, time is a factor of infertility.
Is it possible to envisage that other women could benefit from this technique?
Yes. Other women who have benefited are currently pregnant. A priori, we are therefore validating the fact that the technique works. But of course, it won’t work every time. Unfortunately, this remains indeed reproductive medicine with still too high failure rates. But it does give hope to women affected by breast cancer, who previously could not receive hormones and who want to preserve their fertility.
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