There are established methods for preserving fertility, both in patients who are about to receive therapies that might compromise their fertility, as well as those who desire to electively preserve their fertility.
Cancer Treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, bone marrow- stem cell transplants, and surgery may cause temporary or permanent infertility. Several factors affect the scope of damage that may occur, including gender of the patient, age at the time of treatment, type and dose of chemotherapy, location and dose of radiation, location and extent of surgery, and pre-treatment fertility status.
Importantly, Fertility preservation options are tailored to the patient.
The current fertility preservation options that are offered for cancer patients include:
- For women: In vitro fertilization and subsequent embryo freezing, Gonadopexy (moving the ovary from the field of radiation), Egg Freezing, GnRH agonist (used to suppress the ovary and protect eggs during cancer treatment) and Ovarian freezing.
- For girls: Gonadopexy, Ovarian Freezing.
- For men: Sperm banking, Testicular Sperm Extraction (used to recover rare sperm from the tests of men diagnosed with clinical infertility), Gonadopexy (moving the testis from the field of radiation), and Testicular freezing.
- For boys: Testicular Freezing
The current elective fertility preservation options include in vitro fertilization with embryo freezing and egg freezing.
Our health care team is available now to discuss the reproductive risks associated with your therapy and options for protecting your fertility.
