Impact of infertility drugs after treatment of borderline ovarian tumors: results of a retrospective multicenter study

Objective: To evaluate safety and fertility outcome after the use of infertility drugs in patients who were treated conservatively for a borderline ovarian tumor (BOT). Design: A retrospective multicenter study. Setting: Centers participating in the French National Register on In Vitro Fertilization registry. Patient(s): Thirty patients who were treated for BOT who underwent ovarian induction (OI). Intervention(s): Ovarian induction was performed in 25 patients for infertility after conservative surgery and before surgery for recurrent disease in 5 patients with a single ovary (emergency cases). Main Outcomes Measure(s): Fertility and recurrences rates. Result(s): The mean number of cycles of OI per patient was 2.6 (range, 1-10 cycles). The median follow-up time after treatment of the BOT was 93 months (range, 26-276 months). After a median follow-up time of 42 months after OI, 4 recurrences were observed (initial management was simple cystectomy in 3 of them). All recurrences were borderline tumors on a remaining ovary that had been treated by surgery alone. All patients are currently disease-free. Thirteen pregnancies were observed (10 pregnancies (40%) in the group of 25 patients who were treated for infertility). Conclusion(s): These results suggest that infertility drugs could be used safely in patients who experience infertility after conservative management of an early-stage BOT.