In vitro fertilization raises ovarian cancer risk

By The New York Times, Herald-Tribune
Monday, November 21, 2011

Women who have had ovarian stimulation to produce eggs for in vitro fertilization are at slightly increased risk for a type of ovarian cancer, a large study has found.

Dutch researchers studied more than 19,000 women age 40 and younger who had IVF and about 6,000 who had visited fertility clinics without having the procedure.

After 15 years of follow-up, they found that women who had undergone IVF were more than four times as likely those who had not to develop borderline ovarian cancer, a malignancy that is treatable and survivable.

The findings, published online recently in the journal Human Reproduction, held even after adjusting for age, previous pregnancies, the cause of infertility and other factors. the rest