ANKARA - Turkish doctor Kutluk Oktay, who earlier transplanted ovaries for the first time in the world and ended menopause and infertility nightmares, has carried out a hope-raising study on reproduction of women who are suffering from breast cancer.
Prof. Dr. Kutluk Oktay, a lecturer at the Reproduction & Infertility Center of U.S. Cornell University and the head of the Fertility Preservation Department, has reached important data, affirming that low FSH medication together with tamoxifen and letrozole used for treating breast cancer patients not only triggers ovulation but also reduces recurrence of cancer.
Oktay's study was published in ''The Journal of Clinical Oncology'', one of the outstanding scientific magazines.
According to information received from Prof. Oktay, standard reproduction medication used for IVF (In Vitro Fertilization - a specialized technique by which an ovum is fertilized by sperm outside the body, with the resulting embryo later implanted in the uterus for gestation-) was raising estrogen level and therefore, triggering breast cancer. So, this method was not suitable for people suffering from cancer.
However, Oktay's study affirms that low FSH medication together with tamoxifen and letrozole used for treating breast cancer patients results in ovulation without increasing the risk of recurrence of cancer.
-STUDY CARRIED OUT ON 60 WOMEN-
Tests have proven that these medicines can be safely used in breast cancer patients who want to preserve their fertility with IVF method. The study was carried out on 60 breast cancer patients.
Only tamoxifen was used on 29 of women, who applied to have a baby with IVF method. On the other hand, 31 women who were given low FSH together with tamoxifen and letrozole did not want test tube baby studies. When compared at the end of the tests, it was seen that the group comprised of 31 women produced more embryos. And in the tests carried out one and a half years later, the rate of recurrence of cancer in both groups were the same, i.e. 10 percent.
-APPLY TO REPRODUCTION EXPERT IN SHORTEST TIME-
Prof. Dr. Oktay told A.A that some more tests were needed to say that the new technique was totally safe, and said, ''breast cancer patients, who have doubts about their fertility, should know that they had enough time for test tube baby studies, before starting chemotherapy.''
Noting that embryos of breast cancer patients, who were about to start chemotherapy, were frozen and kept waiting until the patients were ready and suitable for pregnancy, Oktay said that embryo freezing method was becoming more and more successful each passing day, and therefore was raising hopes of elder women to bear child.
-FIRST DELIVERY WITH THIS NEW TREATMENT ON THE WAY-
Oktay said that a woman, who completed her breast cancer treatment after her embryo was frozen with the said method, had undergone the in vitro, and added that the 35-year-old woman was about to give birth to her child.
-IT CAN ALSO BE USED FOR WOMEN SUFFERING UTERUS CANCER-
Prof. Oktay said that letrozole treatment could also be used with the same purpose for the uterus (endometrial) cancer patients, and noted, ''uterus cancer patients can become mothers with carrier mother method because their uterus and ovaries are removed.''
Oktay stated that this method was used in 32-year-old patient for the first time, adding that the patient had triplets with the embryos implanted in her sister.