Anti-Mullerian hormone levels in female cancer patients of reproductive age in Indonesia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Efforts in reproductive preservation for cancer patients have become one of the important aspects of cancer management. In fact, decline in reproductive function is known to occur after exposure to anti-cancer treatments. Measuring anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels is known to be the best parameter in predicting ovarian reserves, which indicates reproductive function. In total, 68% of cancer survivors of reproductive age who underwent anti-cancer treatments suffer from infertility. Meanwhile, ovarian reserves also decrease with increasing age. There is ongoing debate on whether the ovarian reserves of cancer patients could be reduced long before exposure to anti-cancer therapy. Therefore, it is important to know whether ovarian reserves in cancer patients decrease before or after anti-cancer therapy. This can help predict the reproductive function in such cases and the effectiveness of ovarian preservation efforts. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, comparing the AMH levels of 44 female cancer patients of reproductive age before cancer therapy, to 44 non-cancer patients of reproductive age (age matched). The biological ages from both groups were adjusted using the Indonesian Kalkulator of Oocytes. Results: The median age in both groups was 28 years old. The AMH levels in the cancer group were found to be significantly lower in contrast to those in the non-cancer group (1.11 [0.08-4.65] ng/ml vs. 3.99 [1.19- 8.7]; p- value <0.001). Therefore, the biological age in the cancer group was 10 years older than that of the non-cancer group, indicating that ovarian aging occurs earlier in cancer patients. Conclusions: AMH levels of cancer patients of reproductive age were already reduced before cancer therapy, given an older biological age, in contrast to that of the non-cancer patients. Proper counseling and implementation of fertility-preserving methods is highly recommended in this group of patients.