BREAST-CANCER AND IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION - ABOUT 32 CASES

Because of the increased risk of breast cancer for infertile nulliparo us women, the suspected promoter role of estradiol in mammary carcinog enesis and the high frequency of ovulation inducer treatments, it was interesting to focus on the risk of breast cancer after such a treatme nt. We reviewed 32 cases during a retrospective survey in Assisted Rep roductive Techniques (ART) centers in France. Because of the small sam ple size and the few cases published so far, no statistical study coul d be made. However, many observations may have gone unnoticed or were not published. Two hypotheses can be proposed: (1) the facilitating ro le of stimulation on potential infra-clinical or un-diagnosed cancers; (2) the initiation of new cancers. Consequently, we propose to establ ish a register for the follow-up of treated women to monitor the adven t of new cancers and to increase the follow-up of patients with other associated risk factors.