Monday, October 17, 2011

Infertility drugs & breast cancer

I cannot figure out a way to share the actual video so I will just post the link that will allow you to watch it for yourself. Giuliana Rancic announced that when she went in to do her third round of IVF, the doctor required a mammogram. The reason? Infertility drugs could accelerate any cancers. So she did it and they found out, before starting the cycle, that she had breast cancer.

Just wanted to share this video. I really respect Giuliana Rancic for being so forthcoming about her infertility struggle. I had no idea that the drugs I took for IVF can accelerate cancer. I also had no idea that they have been finding an increase in cancers in women who have undergone infertility treatments. (This was something I learned from a doctor in Germany.)

Per a request in the comments, here are some studies indicating the risk of cancer rising with infertility drugs. The link is still being newly researched, and it is important for women to be aware but obviously not convinced at this point.

Infertility, Fertility Drugs, and Ovarian Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Case-Control Studies

 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you have any links to the studies that show an increase in cancers in women who have undergone fertility treatments?

As far as I was aware, there were no studies confirming that link.

Anonymous said...

Saw this relevant article:
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/18/no-proved-ivf-cancer-link-doctors-say/

Wendi Kitsteiner said...

It definitely appears that if there is a link, it is remote and not well proven.