Chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea from adjuvant breast cancer treatment: the effect of the addition of taxanes

Abstract

Purpose: Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer can be associated with a variety of side effects, one of which is the induction of premature menopause in premenopausal patient. Although taxanes have increasingly been used in the adjuvant setting, there has been relatively little published on the frequency of amenorrhea related to their use.

Patients and methods: We review records of 159 premenopausal patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy from our practice.

Results: Altogether, 51% of all patients retained menstrual function after chemotherapy.

Conclusion: It was observed that patients receiving adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy with sequential taxane therapy did not have a higher rate of amenorrhea than those not receiving a taxane.