Is it safe to get pregnant and/or undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) after breast cancer?
IVF does temporarily raise estrogen levels very much above normal, which theoretically could cause breast cancer cells to grow and multiply. Estrogen levels are also high during pregnancy, but not as high as the peak levels during IVF. Studies to date do not show that pregnancy and after breast cancer triggers cancer recurrence. IVF also has not appeared to cause breast cancer. A recent study looked at 29,700 women and found that women exposed to the standard stimulation protocols of IVF showed no increase in breast cancer in the long term over the general population. However in the short term, women exposed to the standard stimulation protocols of IVF had more breast cancer diagnoses in the first 12 months after infertility treatment than the women who did not undergo IVF. These results suggest that IVF does not cause breast cancer in women who would not have had it. However, if breast cancer cells are already present, standard IVF stimulation protocols may stimulate their growth, res
Related Questions
- Is it safe to ripen eggs for harvest -- for embryo freezing and later IVF (in vitro fertilization) -- before treatment for breast cancer?
- Is it safe to get pregnant and/or undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) after breast cancer?
- What is the average cost of In Vitro Fertilization/IVF Procedure in 2010?
