“Meningiomas are especially sensitive to progesterone,” Dr. D’Amico explains. “The Depo-Provera shot contains high doses of a synthetic form of progesterone—medroxyprogesterone acetate—that stays in the body for months at a time. In patients that already have a tiny, asymptomatic meningioma, the worry is that long-term, repeated exposure to this hormone may ‘feed’ the tumor and encourage it to grow to a size where it causes neurologic symptoms.”
While there are many forms of birth control that use progestin, “no increased meningioma risk has been found with combined oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices, progestin-only pills, or subdermal implants,” Andre Beer Furlan, MD, PhD, a surgical oncologist in Moffitt Cancer Center’s Neuro-Oncology Department, tells SELF.
The data doesn’t prove the shot causes meningioma, but it establishes a link.
Meningioma is more common in women who have been through menopause, and there does seem to be a hormone tie-in, Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells SELF. With that, Dr. Segil says that it’s “not unreasonable” to assume that there is something about this form of birth control that may raise the risk of a brain tumor. But he stresses that this link is still being explored.
G. Thomas Ruiz, MD, an ob-gyn at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, also recommends interpreting the link with caution. “The numbers of these meningiomas [in users] are so small,” he says.
Dr. D’Amico agrees. “It’s important to stress though that, even with this increased relative risk, the absolute risk for any individual user is still low,” he says. If you’ve used Depo-Provera in the past, Dr. D’Amico says you’re likely fine. “Once the drug is out of the system, the high dose of the hormone is gone and no longer ‘feeds’ the tumor cells,” he says. “What matters in these patients is symptoms. If you experience persistent headaches, vision changes, seizures, or new neurological problems, then it’s reasonable to seek medical evaluation regardless of contraceptive history.”
