Oncofertility is a relatively new subfield of fertility medicine that bridges oncology and reproductive research to explore and expand options for the reproductive future of female cancer survivors.
Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery may destroy a woman’s ability to have children later in life. Oncofertility focuses on increasing your fertility preservation options. About 10% of cancer patients are younger than age 40, and this issue affects more than 135,000 people in the United States annually. As cancer survivorship increases, the preservation of fertility in women and men becomes critically important for patients and their families. The ability to easily preserve fertility prior to cancer treatment can provide hope for families later in life.
The options for women to bear children after cancer has increased significantly in recent years. Women should be aware of established options such as embryo banking in which multiple eggs are removed, fertilized by sperm, and frozen for future use, egg banking in which multiple eggs are removed and frozen for storage and future use, ovarian transposition or surgically moving the ovaries to a different part of the body and ovarian shielding, which is physically shielding the ovaries from the area receiving radiation. After sterilizing cancer treatment, a woman can also choose surrogacy, when one woman carries a pregnancy for another woman or couple, or adoption.
