The Risk of Cancer in IVF Patients Treated at Age 40 and Above: A Long Term Follow Up - Israeli Fertility Association Conference-Ayala 2018, May 7-8, Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel-Aviv

Avi Tsafrir ¹ Liat Lerner-Geva ² Neri Laufer ³ Hananel Holzer ¹ Eldar-Geva Talia ¹ Gal Michael ¹ Margalioth EJ ¹ Alex Simon ³ Galit Hirsh ²

¹IVF Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and the Hebrew University
²Woman and Children's Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research
³IVF Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Ein Kerem

Introduction: According to recently published large scale studies, ART patients are not at increased risk for cancer. Most of these however, include relatively few women treated at an older age and followed long term.

Aim: To evaluate the risk of cancer in In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) patients treated at age 40 and above after long term follow up.

Materials: The study population included all IVF patients aged 40 and older at two university affiliated IVF units in Jerusalem, Israel, during the period 1994-2002. The computerized data base was cross-linked with the Israel National Cancer Registry updated until 31.12.2013. The Standardized Incidence Ratios (SIR) and 95% confidence intervals were computed by comparing the observed cases to the expected cancer rate in the general Israeli population, adjusted for gender and age. P

Results: 519 patients were included in analysis with mean follow up of 15.4±2.7 years (range 12-20 years, 8239 person years). Mean age at first IVF cycle in the unit was 42±2. 41 all site cancer cases (1 in 12.7 women) were observed as compared with 48.9 expected in the general population (SIR 0.84, 95% CI 0.60-1.14). Among those, 26 women (1 in 20) were diagnosed with breast cancer (including 6 cases of carcinoma in situ), as compared to 20.4 expected (SIR 1.27, 95%CI 0.83-1.86).

Conclusions: In this small study, IVF treatment of older women with follow up for a long period of time was not associated with an excess risk of cancer as compared with the general population.