Women who are having trouble getting pregnant face an increased risk of ovarian cancer if they undergo egg stimulation procedures, researchers warned today.
The ovarian stimulation procedures are linked to a doubled risk of the development of malignant tumours in the ovaries, the researchers say.
The findings, reported in the journal Human Reproduction, come from a study of more than 25,000 women in the Netherlands over a 15 year period.
In spite of the increase in risk, the chances of a woman developing ovarian cancer remained low. Women who underwent ovarian stimulation face an overall risk of 0.71 per cent – meaning that fewer than one per cent would develop a tumour on the ovaries.
Professor Flora van Leeuwen, of he Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, said: "More research is needed to examine the risk of invasive ovarian cancer, especially after a longer follow-up in IVF treated women."
He added: “If we find out that women who receive several IVF cycles or large doses of ovarian stimulating drugs are at a greater risk of ovarian cancer, then these women would need to be informed about these risks when continuing IVF treatment and possibly advised to discontinue treatment after three to six cycles (depending on which number of cycles would be associated with the high risk of ovarian malignancies).”
The increased risk includes borderline tumours – which are unlikely to become cancer but can do so.
Researchers found no evidence that women who are "sub-fertile" face an increased risk – only that the risk increased after treatment.
Risk of borderline and invasive ovarian tumours after ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization in a large Dutch cohort. FE van Leeuwen, H Klip, TM Mooij, AMG van de Swaluw, CB Lambalk, M Kortman, JSE Laven, CAM Jansen, FM Helmerhorst, BJ Cohlen, WNP Willemsen, JMJ Smeenk, AHM Simons, F van der Veen, JLH Evers, PA van Dop, NS Macklon and CW Burger. Human Reproduction October 27 2011 doi:10.1093/humrep/der322
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