If you’ve been trying for a baby for some time now, and have been unsuccessful, you may find yourself asking the question, “How far am I willing to go to conceive a child?” Is it worth the risk of developing cancer? Recent research has suggested that may very well be a risk you would be taking if you turn to fertility treatments.
An extensive study has concluded that women who are given certain drugs during fertility treatments were twice as likely to develop ovarian malignancies, as compared to women who did not undergo treatments.
Details of the Study
The study, which spanned 15 years and was led by Flora van Leeuwen of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, discovered that fertility drugs meant to encourage ovaries to produce extra eggs increase the patient’s risk of developing borderline ovarian tumors and malignant growths. The women who underwent in-vitro (IVF) could develop either cancer or borderline tumors, which are growths that have the possibility of becoming cancerous but typically do not.
The study was significant since it was the first of its kind that included a control group made up of sub-fertile women not undergoing any in-vitro fertilization. More than 25,000 women were observed of which 19,000 received IVF. Out of this large gathering of women, 61 malignant growths were discovered in the IVF, and of these 61 women, 31 cases were borderline tumors and the rest were invasive cancers. This proportion is especially high, compared to sub-fertile women who did not receive IVF.
In Vitro Fertilization
Physiologist Robert G. Edwards developed in vitro fertilization and successfully produced the first “test tube baby,” Louise Brown in 1978. The term in vitro, which means “in glass,” was derived from Latin. The treatment is a process which includes fertilizing a woman’s egg cells with sperm outside of the body. Once the egg is fertilized, then it is transferred to the woman’s uterus, where it should attach itself and begin the pregnancy.
This is a major treatment that is universally available to most women, and it has proven success where other methods of assisted reproductive techniques have failed. Many new IVF patients are filled with questions, and amid the most typical are questions relating to the risks involved. Until now, no real risks had been associated with IVF.
Worth the Risk?
While continued research is necessary, fertility experts all agree that this recent analysis shows an unusually high proportion of borderline tumors. Many health experts, like Peter Braude of Kings College London, argue that the study may raise unnecessary concerns among women undergoing IVF. He points out that if kept proportional to the rest of the sub-fertile women only about five to seven in one thousand women would develop a malignant growth or ovarian tumor.
Nonetheless, you may want to reconsider before saying you’ll “do anything” to have a child all your own.
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