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Furore over fertility treatment link to breast cancer, stress disorder

brigitte

MEDICAL experts are divided over two new studies that suggest that women who got pregnant after taking fertility drugs or treatments such as in In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) may have higher odds for breast cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) later on in life.

A study published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that women using ovulation-stimulating fertility drugs who were unable to get pregnant for at least 10 weeks had a lower risk of breast cancer disease than women who have not taken the drugs.

Another new study published recently in the Bulletin of the American Psychological Association suggests that women who undergo fertility treatments may find the situation so distressing that they develop PTSD. The findings suggest the definition of PTSD may need to be changed so that its causes include potentially traumatic experiences such as infertility.

But a fertility expert and joint pioneer of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) in Nigeria, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru disagrees.

Ashiru, who is also the medical director of Medical Art Centre (MART), Ikeja, told The Guardian: “Most of these reports are still very controversial and lack merit in the research studies. Many of the studies from Australia to Europe and the United States of America (USA) are at the end regarded as speculative.”

Ashiru, however, said one aspect of breast cancer that is widely accepted is that a high proportion of breast cancer are due to the unopposed action of estrogen due to the absence of progesterone or an excessive production of estrogen as in obesity.

He explained: “A number of the fertility drugs that are used to cause multiple ovulations will also cause a rise in the circulating estrogen in the body. The risk is more if the individual used the fertility drugs to cause ovulation alone. In most fertility centers today, during the fertility treatment, progesterone is also introduced to help support the intended pregnancy especially in patients undergoing IVF treatment.”

“It, therefore, sounds to reason that the operative factor is estrogen. Most of the fertility treatment occurs in a balanced medium between estrogen and progesterone hence estrogen alone is not able to have its way since progesterone is administered externally.” Read full article.