Menopause is a common problem in the current clinical management of breast cancer, because the treatment of patients with breast cancer is different before and after menopause. Therefore, the definition of menopause needs to be clarified. Nowadays, it is confusing in clinical practice, so it is necessary to clarify it here. Menopause is generally defined as the permanent termination of menstruation and is also used to describe the persistent reduction of estrogen synthesized by the ovaries during the course of breast cancer treatment. There are several clear definitions of menopause: 1. post bilateral oophorectomy; 2. age ≥ 60 years; 3. age < 60 years, menopause ≥ 12 months, not receiving chemotherapy, endocrine therapy or treatment to suppress ovarian function, and follicle stimulating hormone and estradiol levels should be within the postmenopausal range; 4. age < 60 years, taking endocrine drugs, follicle stimulating hormone and estradiol levels should be within the postmenopausal range within the postmenopausal range; 5. Patients being treated with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists or antagonists cannot be determined to be menopausal; 6. Premenopausal women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, menopause cannot be used as a basis for determining menopause; 7.
Because although patients will stop ovulating or experience menopause after chemotherapy, ovarian function may still be normal or have the potential to recover. In women with chemotherapy-induced menopause who are considered for endocrine therapy with an aromatase inhibitor, ovariectomy or serial monitoring of FSH and/or estradiol levels is required to ensure that the patient is in a postmenopausal state.