OBJECTIVE: To investigate the patterns of estradiol-oocyte ratio (EOR) and estradiol-mature oocyte ratio (EMOR) in patients with breast cancer undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) using letrozole and gonadotropins for fertility preservation. METHODS: This retrospective study included 32 breast cancer patients underwent COS for fertility preservation and no patients had previously undergone gonadotoxic treatments. Basal characteristics and in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes were compared according to the age of women (age < 35 vs. age ≥35) and the starting phase of ovarian stimulation (early follicular phase vs. late follicular phase vs. luteal phase). RESULTS: Patients who were administered with a letrozole-combined regimen, the peak serum estradiol (E2) was maintained at a low level (386.3±346.9 pg/mL). EOR was 52.4±78.8 pg/mL, and EMOR was 71.0±41.2 pg/mL. When the 2 groups were compared according to the age of women (age < 35 vs. age ≥35), EOR was 34.5 (22.2–46.5) pg/mL and 40.7 (19.3–65.3) pg/mL, respectively; EMOR was 79.8 (40.8–90.6) pg/mL and 68.8 (44.5–85.9) pg/mL, respectively. There was no significant difference in the IVF outcomes. When the 2 groups were compared according to the starting phase of ovarian stimulation, there were no significant differences in IVF outcomes, EOR and EMOR among the groups. CONCLUSION: Measuring the peak E2 concentration in breast cancer patients undergoing IVF for fertility preservation with a co-treatment of letrozole allows for the prediction of the numbers of oocytes and mature oocytes.
Aromatase Inhibitors ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Estradiol ; Female ; Fertility Preservation ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Follicular Phase ; Gonadotropins* ; Humans ; Oocytes ; Ovulation Induction* ; Retrospective Studies

Purpose: This study aimed to identify patients who would benefit from third and subsequent lines of chemotherapy in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Materials and Methods: Recurrent EOC patients who received third, fourth, or fifth-line palliative chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Patients’ survival outcomes were assessed according to chemotherapy lines. Based on the best objective response, patients were divided into good-response (stable disease or better) and poor response (progressive disease or those who died before response assessment) groups. Survival outcomes were compared between the two groups, and factors associated with chemotherapy responses were investigated. Results: A total of 189 patients were evaluated. Ninety-four and 95 patients were identified as good and poor response group respectively, during the study period of 2008 to 2021. The poor response group showed significantly worse progression-free survival (median, 2.1 months vs. 9.7 months; p < 0.001) and overall survival (median, 5.0 months vs. 22.9 months; p < 0.001) compared with the good response group. In multivariate analysis adjusting for clinicopathologic factors, short treatment-free interval (TFI) (hazard ratio [HR], 5.557; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.403 to 12.850), platinum-resistant EOC (HR, 2.367; 95% CI, 1.017 to 5.510), and non-serous/endometrioid histologic type (HR, 5.045; 95% CI, 1.152 to 22.088) were identified as independent risk factors for poor response. There was no difference in serious adverse events between good and poor response groups (p=0.167). Conclusion Third and subsequent lines of chemotherapy could be carefully considered for palliative purposes in recurrent EOC patients with serous or endometrioid histology, initial platinum sensitivity, and long TFIs from the previous chemotherapy regimen.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of vaginal progesterone for luteal phase support (LPS) on the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) in natural frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles via a meta-analysis. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and retrospective studies that met our selection criteria. Four online databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Library) were searched between January 2017 and May 2017. Studies were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria and meta-analyzed using R software version 2.14.2. The main outcome measure was CPR. Results: A total of 18 studies were reviewed and assessed for eligibility. One RCT (n=435) and three retrospective studies (n=3,033) met the selection criteria. In a meta-analysis of the selected studies, we found no significant difference in the CPR (odds ratio [OR], 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60–1.55) between the vaginal progesterone and control groups. An analysis of the two retrospective cohort studies that reported the live birth rate (LBR) following FET showed a significantly higher LBR in the vaginal progesterone group (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.21–2.46). A subgroup meta-analysis of FET conducted 5 days after injection of human chorionic gonadotropin showed no significant differences between the two groups with regard to the CPR (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.90–1.55) or miscarriage rate (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.36–1.47). Conclusion The results of this meta-analysis of the currently available literature suggest that LPS with vaginal progesterone in natural FET cycles does not improve the CPR.

Objective: We used paclitaxel and cisplatin, known to be effective in intraperitoneal chemotherapy, in a novel prototype of rotational intraperitoneal pressurized aerosol chemotherapy (RIPAC) and evaluated the pharmacokinetics, tissue concentrations, and toxicities in a pig model. Methods: We developed RIPAC, including the nozzle with the conical pendulum motion, and used 10% of intravenous doses of paclitaxel and cisplatin. We used high-performance liquid chromatography followed by tandem mass spectrometry to analyze serum and tissue concentrations. We applied a non-compartment model to study pharmacokinetics to analyze the time-dependent serum concentrations measured before RIPAC to 48 hours. We evaluated the difference in tissue concentrations between twelve peritoneal regions by the modified peritoneal cancer index. For evaluating toxicities, we observed hepatic and renal function until 4 days after RIPAC. Results: Six pigs underwent RIPAC using paclitaxel (n=3) and cisplatin (n=3). The peak serum concentration (Cmax) and the area under the curve were higher for cisplatin, while the time to the peak serum concentration (Tmax) was longer for paclitaxel. Moreover, the parietal peritoneum showed higher tissue concentrations than the visceral peritoneum, and the ratio of tissue to serum concentrations using Cmax was higher for paclitaxel (172.2–6,237.9) than for cisplatin (0.1–9.3). However, there were no renal and hepatic toxicities after RIPAC with paclitaxel or cisplatin. Conclusion Delayed absorption of paclitaxel sprayed by RIPAC into the peritoneum to the bloodstream may lead to higher tissue concentrations at different regions and lower serum concentrations than cisplatin.