Fertility drugs are not a cause of ovarian cancer, according to a study presented recently at the joint annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society. Dr Mary Crougham-Minihane of the University of California and colleagues elsewhere carried out the large study.
The researchers reviewed 66,427 medical records to gather information on 52,000 patients treated for infertility in 15 California-based centres during a 32 year period. Linking this data to tumour registries in California, the researchers identified 53 ovarian tumours diagnosed after infertility treatment. Their results showed that of this group, 28 proved to be invasive carcinoma compared to an expected 50 cases in a similar-sized group from the general population. However, there were 25 cases of borderline ovarian tumours, which is much higher than the expected 2 cases from the general population.
The research team found that about half of the women who developed either type of ovarian cancer had been exposed to ovarian stimulating agents, thereby finding no association between exposure to fertility drugs and ovarian cancer.
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No link found between fertility drugs and ovarian cancer
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