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Open Access 01-12-2014 | Review

Fertility drugs, reproductive strategies and ovarian cancer risk

Published in: Journal of Ovarian Research | Issue 1/2014

Abstract

Several adverse effects have been related to infertility treatments, such as cancer development. In particular, the relationship between infertility, reproductive strategies, and risk of gynecological cancers has aroused much interest in recent years. The evaluation of cancer risk among women treated for infertility is very complex, mainly because of many factors that can contribute to occurrence of cancer in these patients (including parity status). This article addresses the possible association between the use of fertility treatments and the risk of ovarian cancer, through a scrupulous search of the literature published thus far in this field. Our principal objective was to give more conclusive answers on the question whether the use of fertility drug significantly increases ovarian cancer risk. Our analysis focused on the different types of drugs and different treatment schedules used. This study provides additional insights regarding the long-term relationships between fertility drugs and risk of ovarian cancer.

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Title: Fertility drugs, reproductive strategies and ovarian cancer risk
Publication date: 01-12-2014
Published in: Journal of Ovarian Research / Issue 1/2014
Electronic ISSN: 1757-2215
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1757-2215-7-51

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