The breast cancer drug tamoxifen also acts as an ovarian stimulant and may be helpful for younger patients desiring to have a baby following their cancer surgery, according to researchers at Cornell University.

Even for the 15 percent of patients still of reproductive age when diagnosed with breast cancer, the clock is ticking. Many fear running out of time because they are advised to wait up to five years before trying to conceive. Some want to freeze embryos because they fear ovarian failure as a result of the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

The new findings, published in the journal Human Reproduction, suggest that tamoxifen in additional to helping prevent breast cancer recurrence could aid patients by stimulating their ovaries to increase the number of embryos.

In their study, 12 breast cancer patients aged 23 to 42 were given 40 to 60 milligrams of tamoxifen for seven days, starting two or three days into their menstrual cycle, and monitored for egg production.

The women taking tamoxifen produced an average of 1.6 mature eggs compared to an average of 0.7 for 5 women who did not take tamoxifen. All 12 of the tamoxifen group then generated embryos to freeze for later attempts at pregnancy, compared to three out of the five women in the control group.

One woman who had two embryos transferred has successfully given birth to twins, the researchers reported. None of the women has since suffered a recurrence of their cancer.

Other sources: Human Reproduction