Safety and efficacy of infertility treatment after conservative management of borderline ovarian tumors: a preliminary report

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of infertility treatment in a group of patients after conservative management of borderline ovarian tumors. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: University IVF unit. Patient(s): Five patients with previous conservative treatment of borderline ovarian tumor. Intervention(s): Seventeen IVF cycles. Main Outcome Measure(s): Recurrence, IVF outcome. Result(s): At the time of diagnosis, the mean age of the patients was 32.2 +/- 6.9 years. The mean time elapsed between the initial diagnosis of a borderline tumor and the performance of IVF was 42.2 months. After IVF, the mean number of oocytes retrieved was 7.9 +/- 4.0 with a mean fertilization rate of 57.1% and a mean number of 3.1 +/- 1.4 day 3 embryos transferred. Six pregnancies were achieved in three of the five patients with a pregnancy rate per retrieval of 37.5% and per transfer of 42.9%. The mean follow-up time that elapsed since the first IVF cycle was 39.2 months (range 9-78 months). One patient had three recurrences 13, 27, and 43 months after her first IVF cycle, all of which remained histologically serous borderline tumor. All patients were without evidence of disease at the time of last follow-up. Conclusion(s): At a mean follow-up time of 39.2 months, our results suggest that IVF may be considered for patients with conservatively treated borderline tumors. Furthermore, overall IVF success rates were very satisfactory, suggesting no perceptible negative impact of prior borderline ovarian neoplasia on pregnancy rates after IVF. (C) 2004 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.