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Case Reports
. 2018 May 9;18(1):544.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-018-4472-9.

Two successful pregnancies following fertility preservation in a patient with anaplastic astrocytoma: a case report

Alexandra Peyser  1   2 , Sara L Bristow  1 , Avner Hershlag  3   4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Two successful pregnancies following fertility preservation in a patient with anaplastic astrocytoma: a case report

Alexandra Peyser et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Astrocytomas are the most common malignant glial tumors. With improved prognosis, it is possible for patients to pursue pregnancy post-treatment. However, with potential gonadotoxicity of oncology treatments, fertility preservation prior to chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy should be considered. This requires close collaboration between the oncologist and reproductive endocrinologist. To our knowledge this is the first report of successful pregnancies following fertility preservation for AA.

Case presentation: 33-year-old nulligravid woman with newly diagnosed anaplastic astrocytoma (AA; WHO grade III, IDH1-negative) sought fertility preservation. Prior to chemotherapy and radiation for AA, the patient underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) for fertility preservation, resulting in 8 vitrified embryos. Following chemo-radiation, the patient underwent two rounds of frozen embryo transfers (FET), each resulting in a successful singleton pregnancy.

Conclusion: This case illustrates the realistic possibility, in carefully selected patients with brain tumors, of oocyte or embryo cryo-preservation prior to chemo-radiation and subsequent pregnancies.

Keywords: Anaplastic astrocytoma; Brain cancer; Fertility preservation; Glioma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Research reported in the study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was exempt by the Northwell Health Institutional Review Board under Policy and Procedure Section 25.0.

Consent for publication

Documented written consent from the patient was obtained to report the details of the case.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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