The News

Breast Cancer and Fertility

WOMEN’S WORLD

Nearly 10 percent of the 100,000 Mexican women diagnosed each year with breast cancer are under the age of 35, and more than 20 percent are under the age of 40 and still fertile.

And most of these women are convinced that not only are their bodies going to be mutilated as a result of a mastectomy and other treatment, but they are also about to lose any chance they ever had of bearing children.

With proper monitoring and medical attention, many women who have suffered from breast cancer can bear children. Photo: Health.mil

“It is a common misconception that a diagnosis of breast cancer is synonymous with a loss of fertility,” explained Hospital Español attending gynecologic oncologist Dante Carbajal Ocampo in a recent interview with The News.

“But that is not necessarily the case.”

Carbajal Ocampo said that, as long as the woman in question is diagnosed in the early stages of the disease — stage 1 or stage 2 — before it has metastasized to other organs, if she is still in her reproductive years, she will be able to give birth and nurse their children with their remaining breast, as long as the disease does not reoccur.

“This is something that doctors treating young breast cancer victims need to discuss with their patients, because, oftentimes, the patients are so focused on other aspects of their disease that they don’t bother to ask, or they just assume that they are going to be infertile after chemotherapy,” he said.

“But there are options for these women to preserve their fertility through cryopreservation, which entails freezing either eggs harvested from the ovaries prior to chemotherapy or the in vitro fertilized embryos produced from those eggs.”

Carbajal Ocampo said that with cryopreservation, patients who have been cancer-free for at least two years (or even less time, in some cases), have a 60 to 70 percent chance of becoming pregnant.

But not all women are candidates for cryopreservation of their fertility, and not all of them can afford the procedure, which can run about 150,000 ($8,562) to 200,000 pesos and is not covered by most insurance plans.

Still, Carbajal Ocampo said that, even without cryopreservation, some breast cancer patients under the age of 35 can and do become pregnant, and, in most cases, they give birth to healthy babies.

With cryopreservation, patients who have been cancer-free for at least two years have a 60 to 70 percent chance of becoming pregnant. Photo: Wikipedia

“Of course, cryopreservation is the best option, but it is important for women to understand that chemotherapy — which nearly 90 percent of these patients will undergo — does not produce infertility, although it can wreak havoc with the ovaries, reducing their output.”

Carbajal Ocampo said that the main reason that young women with breast cancer do not consider the cryopreservation option is that they are not made aware of it in time.

“The patient has to have her eggs harvested before she undergoes chemo,” he said.

“Most gynecologic oncologists will bring the subject up with their younger patients during the initial visit, but not all women in Mexico with breast cancer are treated by gynecologic oncologists. Instead, they may be attended by their gynecologist and he or she may not be aware of the option or may not broach the subject with their patient.”

Unfortunately, breast cancer in younger women tends to be more aggressive than in older women, so the type of cancer a patient has also comes into play in deciding if she is a viable candidate for cryopreservation of her eggs, Carbajal Ocampo said.

And any woman who has had breast cancer and becomes pregnant must be closely supervised by her physicians, he said.

“For a long time, women in Mexico thought of breast cancer as a death sentence,” Carbajal Ocampo said.

Even some women who have had cervical or ovarian cancer can become mothers. Photo: Public Domaine Photos

“But now, with earlier detection and recent advances in treatment, the survival rate of breast cancer is much higher, and if the cancer is diagnosed early and treated properly the survival rate is very high.”

In fact, today, even with late detection, which is still a problem in Mexico, the survival rate is 65 percent, according to the national Secretariat of Health. (Twenty years ago, the comparable figure was about 30 percent).

Now, Carbajal Ocampo said, younger women need to understand that a diagnosis of breast cancer — and even other gynecological cancers, including cervical and ovarian cancers — does not necessarily mean that their fertility is over.

“There are a lot of issues that factor into determining if a breast cancer patient is a candidate for cryopreservation of her eggs,” he said.

“But the technology can be a godsend for younger women who still have long lives ahead of them and want to have families.”

More information:

Dante Carbajal Ocampo is an attending gynecologic oncologist at the Hospital Español.

 His offices are located within the hospital, as Ejercito Nacional 613-903, in Polanco (tel: 5255-4866/5545-3375). 

WHAT’S NEW

Photo: Guerlain

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Photo: Sedal

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Photo: Uriage

Micellar Water
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Photo: Genové

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Photo: Dior

Haute Couture
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Photo: Old Navy

Personal Runway
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Photo: Aéropostale

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Chew on This
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THE NEWS