Reduced pretreatment ovarian reserve in premenopausal female patients with Hodgkin lymphoma or non-Hodgkin-lymphoma--evaluation by using antimüllerian hormone and retrieved oocytes.

Objective: To study whether the ovarian reserve in female lymphoma patients is already reduced before the start of chemotherapy.

Design: Age-matched control study.

Setting: Women's university hospital.

Patient(s): Female patients aged <40 years with the initial diagnosis of lymphoma (study group) were compared with age-matched healthy volunteers (control group). Eighty-four female patients with breast cancer and 64 patients with lymphoma who underwent ovarian hormonal stimulation as a fertility-preserving method before the start of chemotherapy.

Intervention(s): Measurement of antimüllerian-hormone (AMH) levels. Ovarian hormonal stimulation to retrieve oocytes.

Main Outcome Measure(s): AMH levels of the lymphoma patients and the healthy volunteers were compared. Numbers of retrieved oocytes after hormonal stimulation in patients with breast cancer and those with lymphoma were compared.

Result(s): Female lymphoma patients have significantly lower AMH levels than healthy age-matched controls: mean value of AMH was 2.06 ng/mL in the study group versus 3.20 ng/mL in the control group. Analysis of the stimulation results showed that in significantly younger patients with lymphoma, significantly fewer oocytes could be retrieved in comparison to those with breast cancer.

Conclusion(s): Ovarian reserve is reduced in female patients affected by lymphoma even before the start of chemotherapy. Proper counseling and implementation of fertility-preserving methods is highly recommended.