Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) Helps Breast Cancer Patients Conceive

It had previously been discouraged for women diagnosed with breast cancer to become pregnant as the additional oestrogen that occurs during pregnancy feeds the cancer. Tamoxifen, apart from being a treatment for breast cancer, stimulates the ovaries to produce more than a single egg which increases the chances of pregnancy.

The study using Tamoxifen was carried out on 12 breast cancer survivors who were prescribed a short course of tamoxifen to stimulate their ovaries before in-vitro fertilization treatment. Doctors found that a week’s course of Tamoxifen more than doubled the number of mature eggs that scientists could recover from the women’s ovaries for fertilization. The women who took the drug also had twice as many viable embryos for transfer to the womb, compared to a control group.

However, since the study is still in the preliminary stages, women cannot go to their doctor and request Tamoxifen to help become pregnant.

(Source: ABC News)