[Chemotherapy induced ovarian failure in breast cancer: Retrospective study of 100 cases]

Introduction: Breast cancers affect about a quarter of women of reproductive age worldwide. Chemotherapy is frequently indicated due to the aggressive biomolecular cancer subtypes usually observed in the localized forms, which may compromise the fertility of these young patients. The aim of our study is to report the incidence of chemotherapy induced ovarian failure in premenopausal breast cancer patients after chemotherapy, and to identify related risk factors.

Methods: It is a retrospective cross-sectional cohort study which included all premenopausal patients with early breast cancer treated at the department of medical oncology, Hassan II University Hospital of Fez, during a period of one year. Chemotherapy induced amenorrhea (CIA) and associated risk factors were studied.

Results: The study included 100 patients. The mean age of the subjects was 36 years. The incidence of CIA was 82 %, 66.7 % regained menstruations. Risk factors associated with CIA were analyzed, only the patient age at diagnosis was found to be statistically significantly associated with CIA.

Conclusion: Our study found a high incidence of CIOF (Chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure) with a relatively low incidence of reversible amenorrhea. Only the patient age has been shown to be an independent factor, statistically significantly associated with ovarian failure after chemotherapy. Methods of fertility preservation should be considered in those patients to reduce the impact of chemotherapy on ovarian reserves.