A young woman treated for breast cancer was able to give birth to a healthy child thanks to a new method of preserving immature oocytes. These were able to be inseminated and the embryo transferred to her uterus after her chemotherapy treatment.
This is a world first and a tremendous hope for women affected by breast cancer who wish to have children. Little Jules was born in perfect health in July 2019 to a mother who had undergone treatment for breast cancer. A birth that was able to take place thanks to a new technique implemented at the Antoine-Béclère hospital in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), consisting of collecting non-mature eggs from the mother before the anti-cancer treatment before freezing them.
This medical feat was presented on February 19 in the journal Annals of Oncology, and two other pregnancies are currently underway at Clamart University Hospital after using this technique. Treatments to fight against breast cancer are often causes of infertility in patients. It is estimated that 15 to 20% of the 40% of 30-year-old women treated for these cancers become infertile, a proportion which rises to 40% for 40-year-old women.
Preserving the chances of future pregnancy
The technique used at the Clamart hospital consists, in women who have to undergo chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, in freezing their immature oocytes to use them at the end of the treatment and thus preserve their chances of future pregnancy.
In the case of Jules’ mother, seven immature oocytes were collected under transvaginal ultrasound guidance and six of these cells were vitrified by freezing. The young woman was then treated for 5 years for her breast cancer with chemotherapy after which she was declared cured.
At the end of her treatment, and therefore several years after the retrieval of her oocytes, and after having tried in vain, due to anti-cancer treatments, to be naturally pregnant for a year, this woman whose cancer had been diagnosed when she was 29 years old was allowed to use her previously thawed eggs that had survived this procedure. The oocytes were inseminated by sperm injection and an embryo resulting from this insemination was then transferred to her uterus after 3 days of taking progesterone, a hormone involved in pregnancy and embryogenesis.
“An important advance in the preservation of fertility”
The real novelty of this technique is that it uses immature and frozen oocytes. A similar technique but using cells after in-vitro maturation and immediate implantation without freezing had already made it possible to give birth to children. This new approach is based on the impossibility of practicing ovarian stimulation for reasons related to the management of the cancerous disease.
“This success represents an important advance in the field of fertility preservation.explains Mickaël Grynberg, director of the department of reproductive medicine at Antoine-Béclère hospital. If it is probably a little less effective than freezing oocytes taken at maturity, it can still allow you to have children.”
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