| The following article features coverage from the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2020 meeting. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
A new assessment of in vitro fertilization live birth rates among childhood cancer survivors found that rates among survivors were lower than their siblings, but not significantly.
“Chemotherapy and/or radiation lead to diminished ovarian reserve in female childhood cancer survivors even when regular menses return post-treatment,” wrote Kimberly W. Keefe, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues in a poster presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program. “Registry-based evaluation has not been conducted for assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes of female survivors.”
For this study, data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, which included 5-year survivors and their siblings, were linked to the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System, which captures nationwide, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–required reporting of ART outcomes. ART intervention includes in vitro fertilization, ovarian stimulations with autologous vs donor eggs, fresh and frozen embryo transfers, and use of a gestational carrier.
Continue Reading
The study included 9885 female survivors and 2419 siblings. Of the survivors, 137 underwent 243 ART cycles. Among siblings, 33 underwent 60 ART cycles.
Median age for egg retrieval was 30 for survivors and 34 for siblings.
In a subset of survivors using autologous eggs, 99 survivors underwent 155 ovarian stimulation cycles that resulted in 113 embryo transfers and 49 live births. This was a live birth rate of 32% per ovarian stimulation and 43% per transfer.
Live birth rates in siblings were not significantly higher. In siblings, the live birth rate was 38% (P =.39 compared with survivors) per stimulation and 53% per transfer (P =.33).
Survivors who had undergone pelvic radiation (relative risk, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.16-0.77) compared with no radiation had a lower relative risk of live birth. Likelihood of live birth was not affected by alkylator exposure.
Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the ASCO 2021 meeting by visiting the conference page.
Reference
Keefe KW, Lanes A, Stratton K, et al. Assisted reproductive technology outcomes in childhood cancer survivors: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Presented at: ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program. J Clin Oncol. 2020;38(suppl):abstr 10528.
