BY CHRISTINA HONAN

ANCHOR JIM FLINK

E! news host Giuliana Rancic went from delivering the headlines-- to being in the headlines-- revealing on NBC’s Today-- she has breast cancer. Rancic explains how undergoing in vitro fertilization treatments, or IVF, helped catch it early:

“When we went to do the third round of IVF, this doctor, the only doctor who’s ever said this to me said, ‘you need a mammogram.’ And I said, ‘Why? I’m 36-years-old, why would I need a mammogram? I’m too young.’ He said, ‘I don’t care if you’re 26, 36, I will not get you pregnant if there is a small risk that you have cancer.’”

Rancic has publicly struggled with infertility issues-- and now believes the cancer is why she’s had trouble getting pregnant. For some--  the news raises concerns about possible links between IVF and cancer.

In vitro exposes women to unnaturally high levels of hormones, which can accelerate growth of existing cancer cells. But does the treatment cause cancer? Doctors tell BBC, probably not.

“Ian Jacobs, director of the gynaecological research unit at Barts' Hospital, says there is no proof one way or the other that IVF increases a woman's risk of getting cancer.”

The link between cancer and IVF took center stage last year when Elizabeth Edwards died of breast cancer. She had used IVF to conceive her youngest children. TIME published an article hoping to put the IFV fears to rest.

“A large new study published this month in Human Reproduction suggests that women who undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) ... do not put themselves at a higher-than-usual risk of cancer... The study found that the risk for any cancer was actually 26% lower in women after they had children through IVF...”

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women under 40 are not currently required to get a mammogram before receiving IVF-- but Rancic is encouraging them to anyway. A reporter for the Boston Globe says that may not be the best medical advice.