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Chapter 4 - The Need for Fertility Preservation in Cancer Patients

from Section 1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2021

By
Richard A Anderson  and
Rod T Mitchell
Edited by
Jacques Donnez  and
S. Samuel Kim
Jacques Donnez
Affiliation:
Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels
S. Samuel Kim
Affiliation:
University of Kansas School of Medicine
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Summary

The rapid expansion in reproductive medicine services in recent decades, with notable technological advances in oocyte cryopreservation [1] and artificial reproductive techniques using mature gametes [2], has aligned with developments in oncology to support a rapid expansion in the provision of fertility preservation for cancer patients. Ongoing developments in oncology continue to improve statistics for long-term survival and cure, particularly in the pediatric oncology environment where the great majority of children with cancer can now expect to become long-term survivors [3]. It is, however, unfortunately the case that many such long-term survivors will have one or more significant health issues related to their disease and its treatment [4], and this includes the impairment to their fertility [5]. At the time of diagnosis, loss of fertility is regarded by patients as a keen concern [6].

Type
Chapter
Information
Fertility Preservation
Principles and Practice
 , pp. 25 - 34
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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