Researchers have found a way to preserve fertility in female cancer survivors

A recent study has shown that many young female cancer survivors are not fully aware of information about how they are at high risk of early menopause and how to preserve their fertility after completing treatment.

About 43-62 percent women had unmet information needs and two-thirds of them were worried about their capability to give birth to a child in future. Researchers have stated that females thinking to have children are not yet ready to start a family and may have to undergo fertility preservation with egg or embryo freezing after treatment. Due to cancer, they are also at high risk of early menopause.

"Failure to provide information and address concerns with respect to fertility-related decisions may have lasting consequences for young women who hope to achieve important life goals such as having children," said lead author Catherine Benedict from Northwell Health, New York State's largest health care provider and private employer.

The paper published by Benedict in journal cancer also stated "For women are at risk of early menopause, delaying fertility-related decisions may cause them to miss their narrowed window of opportunity to preserve their fertility, if desired."

The team wanted to understand about how young female cancer survivors view the decision of undergoing fertility preservation after treatment and to learn about their informational needs.

Members of team examined around 346 participants whose age was about 30 years and they also researched on a subgroup of 179 women about women with certain fertility status who had not undergone the fertility preservation before.

The results showed that greater reproductive concerns and unmet information made it more difficult to think about the fertility preservation.

The findings in the study also established the need for creating support centres to help young female cancer survivors make decisions about fertility preservation and family-building as part of survivorship care.

This study also helped in understanding the importance and need of women making fertility decisions before treatment.

-by Bhaskar Raghavendran

Bhaskar is a graduate in Journalism and mass communication from Amity school of communication, Noida. Contact the author at Twitter: bhaskar_ragha

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