Background: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is the most frequent lymphoma in the young population. The standard of treatment is chemotherapy including alkylating agents known to affect fertility. Fertility preservation is usually proposed before treatment with oocyte cryopreservation as a reference. In different cohorts of healthy women, some factors are well known to have an impact on oocyte quality preservation such as age, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), body mass index (BMI). German Hodgkin Study Group (GHSG) distinguishes 3 prognostic groups: early, intermediate, advanced stages (respectively defined GHSG I, II, III in our study). In literature, the parameters influencing fertility preservation outcomes in HL are not clear, namely HL’s stage and inflammation. In this study we evaluated the impact of HL’s stage using GHSG criteria on fertility preservation outcomes.
Methods: We performed a retrospective study on 79 women, with newly diagnosed and previously untreated HL who underwent oocyte cryopreservation between 2012 and 2021. The patients were extracted from a cohort of fertility observatory in Lille University Hospital. The primary outcome was the number of metaphase 2 oocyte retrieved (M2). Estradiol level at the ovulation induction and the ratio of M2/follicles >15mm were secondary outcomes. We compared fertility outcomes between two groups: early and intermediate stage (GHSG I+II) and advanced stage (GHSG III). We evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses the following factors: AMH, BMI, use of hormonal contraception, age and C reactive protein (CRP).
Results: The two groups (GHSG I-II and GHSG III) were comparable. In univariate analyses, AMH was the only statistically significant factor regarding the number of M2 (p<0,0001) and Estradiol level (p<0,0001). In multivariate analysis, GHSG score was not statistically significant concerning Estradiol level (p=0,5) contrary to AMH level (p<0,0001).
Conclusion: In our study, AMH level is doubtlessly a factor impacting the quality of oocyte preservation. HL’s stage and inflammation do not seem to affect fertility preservation outcomes in the whole cohort. These results, based on the largest cohort of HL patients evaluating HL’s risk groups provide important information about expected cryopreservation outcomes. According to this study, oocyte cryopreservation should be considered even for patients with advanced HL’s stage.