At the European Union of Oncology Meeting held in Paris recently, French researchers published an important study on this subject and reported that approximately half of the patients who received preventive chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer ceased their menstruation within a 4-year follow-up period.
This study evaluated 12,000 patients with non-metastatic cancer, and some were followed for up to 5 years. The aim of the study was to review the effect of chemotherapy-related side effects on changes in quality of life. All patients were required to be younger than 50 years of age, not to have entered menopause at the time of diagnosis, and to have received chemotherapy.
Among the 12,000 patients screened, 1,676 patients met these conditions. While the mean age of the patients was 42 years, 1/3 of them were below 34 years old. Of the 1,676 patients, 745 were patients with 4 years of follow-up records after diagnosis. Approximately 91% of the patients received chemotherapy, and 75% received hormone therapy.
According to the results, the rate of patients who reported discontinuation of menstruation 1 year after diagnosis was 83%, and the rate of menstruation interruption was 58% in 745 patients whose 4-year follow-up was completed. Most of the women whose menses returned did come back between the 1st and 2nd years. Undoubtedly, age is an important factor, with patients younger than 34 years of age returning 45% at the end of 1 year compared to only 7% in patients over 40 years of age. At the end of 4 years, 78% of the patients whose menstrual periods returned under the age of 34 were 26% over the age of 40.
Undoubtedly, receiving chemotherapy at an older age and the type of chemotherapy applied are related to whether or not the menstrual periods come back, but in addition to these, the weakness of the patients was observed as one of the reasons that reduced the return of menses.
Another remarkable feature in this study is that the non-return of menses emerged as one of the important reasons that directly affect the quality of life. In these patients, attention deficit, concentration disorder, and sexual reluctance were observed as more prominent problems.
As a result, the probability of returning menses in patients under 34 years of age can be calculated as 50%, and the probability of menstruation returning in patients aged 35-40 years can be calculated as 30%.
