The influence of the breast cancer chemotherapy to the menstrual cycle

The aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of the breast cancer cytostatic therapy to the menstrual cycle of oncology patients. The number of 58 premenopausal women mean age 41,6 years with histological biopsy verified breast cancer were treated with chemotherapy from June 1995 till September 1998. Patients have received 6 cycles of FAC chemotherapy regimens in the three week interval. The premenopausal status was defined as a regular menstrual cycle with maximal length of 40 days for the purpose of our study. The secondary amenorrhoea was defined as longer than 40 days durating absence of menses. When we analysed the development of amenorrhoea in relation to the number of applied series of chemotherapy, we have found a relationship (V): V= A/B, when A is the dose of CFA tin gram) essential for the onset of amenorrhoea and B is the planned dose of CFA during six chemotherapeutic series. This calculation helps us to prepare the prediction of menstrual reversibility.