What is the definition of menopause?

Definition of menopause: Menopause is usually the permanent cessation of physiological menstruation or the permanent loss of ovarian estrogen production caused by breast cancer treatment.

The criteria for menopause are as follows:

After bilateral oophorectomy;

Age ≥ 60 years;

Patients aged <60 years who have been amenorrhea for more than one year without chemotherapy, tamoxifen, toremifene and ovarian function suppression therapy, and whose blood FSH and estradiol levels are within the postmenopausal range; amenorrhea patients aged <60 years who are taking tamoxifen or toremifene must have their blood FSH and estradiol levels continuously tested to be within the postmenopausal range.

In addition, please note:

Women who are receiving LH-RH agonists or antagonists cannot be diagnosed as menopausal.

For women who have not reached menopause before adjuvant chemotherapy, amenorrhea cannot be used as a basis for judging menopause, because although patients will stop ovulating or have no menstruation after chemotherapy, their ovarian function may still be normal or may recover.

For women with chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea, if aromatase inhibitors are considered as endocrine therapy, effective ovarian suppression (complete bilateral oophorectomy or drug suppression) should be considered, or FSH and/or estradiol levels should be monitored repeatedly to confirm that the patient is in the postmenopausal state.