Aromatase Inhibitors for Ovarian Stimulation in Patients with Breast Cancer

Esteban Ferreiro, Ferreiro E, Belén López de Uralde, de Uralde BL, Rita Abreu, Abreu R, García-Velasco JA, Juan A. García-Velasco, Muñoz E, Elkin Muñoz
Current drug targets · 2020 · vol. 21(9) , pp. 910–921 · doi:10.2174/1389450121666200220124607 · PMID:32077823
Review OA: closed
Full text JSON View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by qwen3.7-flash, 2026-10-14 ⓘ

This mini-review updates the use of aromatase inhibitors for ovarian stimulation in breast cancer patients undergoing oocyte vitrification, noting comparable efficacy to conventional protocols and no reported safety concerns regarding malignancy recurrence or congenital defects.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by qwen3.7-flash, 2026-10-12 · read from full text ⓘ

This mini-review evaluates the use of aromatase inhibitors as an alternative to conventional protocols for controlled ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer undergoing fertility preservation via oocyte vitrification. The authors report that these drugs induce hypoestrogenemia while promoting gonadotropin release, achieving similar ovarian response rates in terms of oocyte numbers compared to standard treatments without additional complications. Cohort studies cited in the review indicate no increased risk of malignancy recurrence or mortality, and offspring from pregnancies achieved after their use show no higher incidence of congenital defects. Relevance to endometriosis: listed as one indication for GnRH antagonists, though the paper's main focus is uterine fibroids.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in women, and its treatment has a high probability of loss of fertility. Oocyte vitrification is the most commonly used technique to preserve fertility before starting oncological treatment. Aromatase inhibitors induce hypoestrogenemia while promoting the release of gonadotropins and constitute an alternative drug for ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer. OBJECTIVE: In this mini-review, we update and describe the current status of aromatase inhibitor use in controlled ovarian stimulation for oocyte vitrification in patients with breast cancer. RESULTS: Aromatase inhibitors are commonly used in combination with gonadotropins for ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer who preserve their fertility through oocyte vitrification. They achieve similar ovarian responses as conventional ovarian stimulation protocols in regards to the number of oocytes, and no additional complications after their use have been reported. Furthermore, aromatase inhibitors seem to be safe not only for offspring, as no more congenital defects occur in newborns from pregnancies achieved after their use, but also for the patients, as no more malignancy recurrence or increased mortality was found in cohort studies. CONCLUSION: Aromatase inhibitors are elective drugs for ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer who decide to preserve their fertility through oocyte vitrification.
Full text 7,067 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · 5 sections · click to expand

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in women, and its treatment has a high probability of loss of fertility. Oocyte vitrification is the most commonly used technique to preserve fertility before starting oncological treatment. Aromatase inhibitors induce hypoestrogenemia while promoting the release of gonadotropins and constitute an alternative drug for ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer.

Objective

In this mini-review, we update and describe the current status of aromatase inhibitor use in controlled ovarian stimulation for oocyte vitrification in patients with breast cancer.

Results

Aromatase inhibitors are commonly used in combination with gonadotropins for ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer who preserve their fertility through oocyte vitrification. They achieve similar ovarian responses as conventional ovarian stimulation protocols in regards to the number of oocytes, and no additional complications after their use have been reported. Furthermore, aromatase inhibitors seem to be safe not only for offspring, as no more congenital defects occur in newborns from pregnancies achieved after their use, but also for the patients, as no more malignancy recurrence or increased mortality was found in cohort studies.

Conclusion

Aromatase inhibitors are elective drugs for ovarian stimulation in patients with breast cancer who decide to preserve their fertility through oocyte vitrification.

Keywords

Aromatase inhibitors, breast cancer, ovarian stimulation, fertility preservation, hypoestrogenemia, safety. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20301-6_2] [PMID: 31456177] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clbc.2019.03.005] [PMID: 31257015] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1071884] [PMID: 12040178] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.02.001] [PMID: 21335088] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmn033] [PMID: 18812422] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61074-1] [PMID: 26211827] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12094-018-1973-6] [PMID: 30443868] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.01.093] [PMID: 22283969] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01568-w] [PMID: 31485870] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01281] [PMID: 26689671] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/BCJ20190633] [PMID: 31652308] [PMID: 10690870] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008528.pub3] [PMID: 29096046] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.01.117] [PMID: 16009161] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0093-7754(03)00305-1] [PMID: 14513434] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-081X(199712)18:93.0.CO;2-5] [PMID: 9429742] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdd.273] [PMID: 11745921] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00228-011-1042-3] [PMID: 21494765] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2007-0247] [PMID: 17356042] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/GCO.0000000000000180] [PMID: 25919235] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/GCO.0000000000000163] [PMID: 25710389] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.08.060] [PMID: 18083169] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.06.015] [PMID: 22771027] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurox.2019.100049] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2017.07.009] [PMID: 28710053] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2016.02.006] [PMID: 26927896] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01462-5] [PMID: 31127475] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rmb2.12263] [PMID: 30996680] [http://dx.doi.org/10.3747/co.25.3889] [PMID: 30607119] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dex276] [PMID: 28938748] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09513590.2018.1522298] [PMID: 30403906] [http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/1518-0557.20180065] [PMID: 30264947] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.01.030] [PMID: 21292255] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/aogs.13146] [PMID: 28382680] [http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1389201018666170808122531] [PMID: 28786354] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.03.002] [PMID: 27020168] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10815-014-0248-6] [PMID: 24854484] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.06.027] [PMID: 28865552] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.12.007] [PMID: 26803205] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176600] [PMID: 28459828] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2005.05.037] [PMID: 15824416] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2013.01.003] [PMID: 23415997] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09513590.2016.1177013] [PMID: 27114051] [http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/1518-0557.20190010] [PMID: 30875168] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09513590.2018.1534950] [PMID: 30596311] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2018.08.013] [PMID: 30503134] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1227-0] [PMID: 29869766] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2018.04.047] [PMID: 29784618] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2009.24.2057] [PMID: 19996028] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dew044] [PMID: 27094481] [http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.24638] [PMID: 29662617] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.07.1162] [PMID: 26335130] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12958-018-0443-x] [PMID: 30606204] [http://dx.doi.org/10.5468/ogs.2018.61.2.242] [PMID: 29564315] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.06.024] [PMID: 28865549] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(00)01725-8] [PMID: 11172839] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dey358] [PMID: 30561604] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1933719117728800] [PMID: 28874104] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dep125] [PMID: 19458318] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1472-6483(10)61771-3] [PMID: 15670407] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2004.09.034] [PMID: 15820821] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1472-6483(10)61138-8] [PMID: 16274606] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10815-006-9093-6] [PMID: 17192835] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2014.09.002] [PMID: 25444506] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2014.06.019] [PMID: 25064408] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.07.230] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2006.03.014] [PMID: 16650422] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1313517] [PMID: 25006718] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108219] [PMID: 25272289] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1067/mob.2003.201] [PMID: 12748456] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-0044] [PMID: 22496457] [PMID: 28742191] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jcem.87.2.8197] [PMID: 11836309] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dev155] [PMID: 26109617] [PMID: 29364493] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmt034] [PMID: 23884897] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2002.06.020] [PMID: 12149306] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2019.07.003] [PMID: 31564650] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dex027] [PMID: 28333356] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmz034] [PMID: 31821471] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.87.5.2336] [PMID: 11994385] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2008-1180] [PMID: 19001523] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2006.11.188] [PMID: 17336977] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmt010] [PMID: 23539633] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jog.13743] [PMID: 30043503] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jcem.86.10.7947] [PMID: 11600509] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dep199] [PMID: 19493871] [http://dx.doi.org/10.1517/13543784.2011.581226] [PMID: 21529311]

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

MeSH descriptors

Aromatase Inhibitors Breast Neoplasms Breast Neoplasms Ovulation Induction Adult Aromatase Inhibitors Aromatase Inhibitors Breast Neoplasms Breast Neoplasms Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Fertility Preservation Fertility Preservation Fertility Preservation Humans Oocytes Oocytes Oocytes Ovulation Induction

Citation neighborhood (no data yet)

We don't have any in-corpus citations linked to this paper yet. The paper's references may be in our DB but unresolved to ``paper_id`` (resolution happens at ingest when the cited DOI matches a row we already have). Run the cross-source citation reconcile pass to retry.

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-11T09:27:45.537177+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-12T06:16:06.672092+00:00