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Updated: Aug 3, 2026
OP-IVM: Combining In vitro Maturation after Oocyte Retrieval with Gynecological Surgery
Published on: May 9, 2021
Efficacy of in vitro fertilization after chemotherapy
Marie-Madeleine Dolmans1, Dominique Demylle, Belen Martinez-Madrid
1Department of Gynecology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
Objective:
To evaluate if in vitro fertilization (IVF) with embryo cryopreservation can be proposed to patients immediately after one or two regimens of chemotherapy.
Design:
Retrospective study.
Setting:
Academic research center and IVF unit.
Patient(S):
Eleven young patients diagnosed with cancer between September 1999 and April 2003 who wanted to preserve their fertility via IVF.
Intervention(S):
Stimulation and IVF before or soon after chemotherapy treatment.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
The number and quality of embryos obtained after stimulation in cancer patients undergoing IVF before or soon after chemotherapeutic treatment.
Result(S):
Four patients underwent IVF in the interval between two regimens of chemotherapy. Two of them had no follicular development; one underwent follicular puncture but no oocytes were retrieved; and, in one, six oocytes were harvested but only one good quality embryo was obtained. In the seven patients who underwent IVF before starting chemotherapy, between 4 and 11 embryos were obtained per patient, the majority being good quality embryos.
Conclusion(S):
Because the efficacy of IVF is dramatically reduced after even one round of chemotherapy, IVF should be performed before chemotherapy. For those who require immediate chemotherapy, ovarian tissue cryopreservation and/or oocyte cryopreservation could be used before treatment.
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