To do IVF before chemo or not (risk of cancer recurrence)?

magdai

Hi all,

I will be 36 in a few days and have just been diagnosed and went through 2 surgeries. During the second one (2 weeks ago) they removed 2 lymph nodes and 25% of the breast tissue around the cancer lump (it was 1cm). My cancer is Grade 2, Stage is not confirmed yet, it is hormone receptor positive type (oestrogen and progesteron). There was a micrometastasy in one of the lymph nodes, but we still need to do further scans to see if there was spreading or not. I have only a few days to decide if I want to do an egg retrieval and IVF or not. 2 of the oncologists I spoke with told me there might be a risk doing egg retrieval due to my oestrogen driven cancer type and that it might cause relapse in the future. There is no sufficient evidence for that, but there is a suspicion. I will be 41 when I finish chemo (6 sessions of Epirubicin, Cyclophosphomide, 5FU) and hormone blocking therapy (LH-RH analogue + Tamoxifen; it will be 5 years), so of course chances to get pregnant will be lower especially after chemo. Of course together with my husband we would love to be able to have our own children, but shall I take the risk? What about pregnancy after the finished treatment, does it also put me at risk for cancer recurrence (during pregnancy there is even more oestrogen released in the body)?

I have been trying to get as much medical opinions as possible, but they seem to differ and are not conclusive. I would like to ask you ladies, the community, if you have been or know of a similar situation? Any advice? Any additional research you know of?

What would you do in my case?

I would be grateful! I only have 4 days to decide...