Anti-Müllerian hormone in premenopausal women following treatment of uterine cervical cancer.

ABSTRACT

In this longitudinal study we prospectively enrolled 32 premenopausal women (ages 23-44 years) with stage I-III uterine cervical cancer undergoing surgery and/or chemoradiation. Serum levels of anti-Müllerian hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol were examined at baseline and 1 year after treatment. As expected, serum anti-Müllerian hormone was undetectable after salpingo-oophorectomy or chemoradiation. After radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy with ovarian preservation serum anti-Müllerian hormone declined from a mean value of 2.0 ± 1.4 µg/L to 1.1 ± 0.8 µg/L (p = 0.01), representing a 45% reduction, whereas there was no significant change in serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol. This implies that ovarian function may be affected not only by castrating treatment but also by radical hysterectomy with ovarian preservation. The risk of premature menopause and the potential need of hormone replacement therapy among these women may be overlooked since they no longer menstruate.