Introduction: Fertility preservation (FP) is recommended in young breast cancer (BC) patients before (neo)adjuvant treatment. Letrozole-associated controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (LetCOH) is used worldwide to collect mature oocytes for FP, but its efficacy and safety compared to conventional protocols (cCOH) are still debated.
Aims: To compare efficacy and safety of FP procedure using LetCOH or cCOH in BC patients in terms of oocyte maturation rate and disease-free survival rates after at least two years of follow-up.
Methods: This multicenter retrospective study compared outcomes of 107 cycles in 97 non-metastatic BC patients aged ≤40 years who underwent cCOH (n = 56) or LetCOH (n = 41) for FP in CHU-Lille and Erasme Hospital, respectively, between December 2012 and January 2017.
Results: Patients and oncological characteristics were similar except for tumor size and HER2 status which were less favorable in the LetCOH group. Patients underwent adjuvant chemotherapy in 96.4% and 48.8% of the cases in cCOH and LetCOH groups, respectively. Hence, 51.2% of LetCOH patients underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (p < 0.001). Estradiol peak at ovulation trigger was lower in LetCOH compared to cCOH group while oocyte maturation rates were significantly higher (p < 0.001), without impacting the final number of mature oocytes collected. Seven and four patients relapsed in LetCOH and cCOH groups, respectively, and one patient died in each group after a median follow-up of four years.
Conclusion: LetCOH is as effective as cCOH for FP. At this time point, there were no safety concerns regarding cCOH in the adjuvant setting but a longer follow-up is warranted.
Keywords: Controlled ovarian stimulation; Disease-free survival; Early breast cancer; Fertility preservation; Letrozole; Oocyte maturation rate.
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