Tuesday, August 2, 2011

GnRH agonist therapy and premature ovarian failure

In young women who develop breast cancer, ovarian suppression while using triptorelin, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog, during the process of chemotherapy proved to reduce the incidence of premature menopause. These findings have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in July 2011 and is the result of a study in Italy.

The team of researchers from the Instituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genoa, headed by dr. Lucia Del Mastro, underlined that about 6% of women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40 years, and mostly treated with chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. So far, there has been no standard therapies are applied to prevent the occurrence of premature ovarian failure. To investigate the protective effects of temporary ovarian suppression during the treatment of breast cancer, the researchers recruited 281
premenopausal women with breast cancer early stage into an open-label randomized study of phase III. A total of 148 women of whom received triptorelin 3.75 mg IM at least 1 week before chemotherapy, then every 4 weeks during chemotherapy lasts.

The primary endpoint is chemotherapy-induced menopause, defined as the cessation of menstrual cycles and lower levels of FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and estradiol up to levels of post-menopausal one year after chemotherapy. Chemotherapy-induced menopause occurs in 8.9% of patients triptorelin group and 25.9% of patients the control group, yielding odds ratios for premature menopause-related therapy is 0.28 (p <0.001). However, a number of other scientists need for vigilance in case of hum patients with hormone-sensitive disease. Two scientists from the University of California, San Francisco, dr. Hope S. Rugo and dr. Mitchell P. Rosen, found that the possibility of a detrimental effect on patient prognosis. They said, "The use of GnRH agonists in conjunction with chemotherapy has not been recommended as standard therapy feasible and requires vigilance in patients with hormone-sensitive disease."

On the other hand, dr. Del Mastro and colleagues conclude, "For patients with hormone-sensitive disease, GnRH agonist therapy to suppress ovarian function during chemotherapy actually is an additional therapeutic alternative that could potentially increase the likelihood of fertility."

Adopted from www.squidoocdn.com


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