Protecting Fertility During Chemo
Reported November 2, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- For many women diagnosed with breast cancer, the realization that chemotherapy could leave them infertile is devastating. Harvesting and freezing eggs is one option, but there isn't always enough time. Now, doctors say a drug used for prostate cancer patients may keep a woman's ovaries out of harm's way during chemo.

Madeleine Ross is mom to 2-year-old Amanda and 4-year-old Charlie, but she wanted one more. "I always thought three was a nice round number to have for children," she says.

Then Madeleine was diagnosed with breast cancer. "When he told me, I burst into tears. It was not a good moment. I was all alone, and it was rough."

Surgery and chemotherapy followed. Chemotherapy often causes women to go into menopause, leaving them infertile. Madeleine decided to try a new drug to help keep her fertility. "If it can help research and can help women down the line, we'll do it."

An injection of the drug triptorelin is given each month during chemotherapy. The drug temporarily shuts down the ovaries. Medical oncologist Pamela N. Munster, M.D., says the treatment looks promising.

"The hope is that we try to get the ovaries out of the cycling and therefore by shutting it down, shutting its function down, we try to preserve the damage to it," Dr. Munster, of Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., tells Ivanhoe.

A smaller study showed this treatment worked. Eighty percent of the women studied began menstruating again within a year. "Even if a woman decides later on they don't want to have a child, they still may not want to be in a menopausal state," Dr. Munster says.

Madeleine decided she won't try for a third child after all. But she hopes this research will help other women experience the joy of motherhood.

Dr. Munster says ovarian damage during chemotherapy depends on the woman's age, the dose of the drug, and the type of drug given. Triptorelin has also been used in women with lymphomas and other types of cancer to see if ovarian failure could be prevented.