How To Consider Fertility Before Starting Cancer Treatment
How do I consider fertility before I start cancer treatment?
Considering fertility issues is especially relevant for the younger patient and several issues come to play. Number one it's a lot easier to preserve fertility for men because sperm banking is very easily done and is reasonably accessible at most centers and is very cost effective. So young men patients should always ask should I consider sperm banking. That is especially flexible because even if somebody is diagnosed before they have their life partner that is a way to preserve fertility and have children later. It becomes more complicated with female patients because procuring eggs to store is more difficult and may even be considered an experimental procedure. There are centers of excellence throughout the country that specialize in this or even harvesting eggs and then fertilizing eggs and preparing embryos. But again these are a few centers in the country that are specialized, they are often experimental procedures and they are often associated with costs that may or may not be covered by insurance. One difficulty for female patients is that this procedure takes time and needs to be timed with the ovulation cycle and some cancers may be able to wait for that type of planning. Other cancers such as aggressive leukemias and lymphomas can not wait and therapy should be started right away. The best thing to do is ask questions on an encouraging note the majority of chemotherapy offered to young people does not cost fertility. Your oncologists should be aware of the American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines about fertility in young patients. What this document does is describe common chemotherapy regimens and the risk of preserving or losing fertility. Finally there are some excellent web resources which act as clearing houses about this issue. So I would encourage you to do your own research, ask your oncologists and don't be afraid to ask questions.
