Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonists in Fertility Preservation

Abstract

Fertility preservation in females diagnosed with cancer has become an important area of investigation due to increasing cancer survival rates combined with delayed childbearing. Initial studies using gonadotropinreleasing hormone (GnRH) agonist cotreatment with chemotherapy demonstrated promising results for fertility preservation. If this protective effect of GnRH agonists is confirmed by the ongoing prospective randomized clinical trials, GnRH agonist cotreatment may become valuable option for fertility preservation in reproductive-age women undergoing chemotherapy. Thus, ovarian protection may enable the preservation of future fertility in survivors and, in addition, prevent other adverse effects of premature menopause, such as bone density loss, sexual dysfunction, and vasomotor symptoms. Keywords Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonists in Fertility PreservationHakan Cakmak and Emre Seli 13Cancer is not uncommon among younger women of reproductive age. More than 710,000 new female cancer cases were estimated to be diagnosed in 2009 in the USA [1]. Approximately 10% of female cancer cases occur under the age of 40 years [2]. Over the past three decades, there has been a remarkable improvement in the survival rates due to progress in cancer treatment. With improvements in treatment outcomes, 82% of women younger than 45 years diagnosed with cancer survived between 1999 and 2006 [2]. Moreover, it was previously estimated that by 2010, one in 250 adult women will be a cancer survivor [3]. As a consequence of the increase in the number of patients surviving cancer, greater attention has been focused on the effects of cancer treatment on the quality of life of the survivor.The treatment for most of the common cancer types in younger women involves either removal