Opening Doors: Fertility Preservation for Adolescents and Young Adults Facing Gonadotoxic Therapy.

As long-term survival rates continue to rise in adolescents and young adults receiving a diagnosis of cancer, the focus of oncologic care has shifted from survival to both survival and quality of life after treatment.and quality of life after treatment. For many individuals in the AYA age group, a commonly cited survivorship concern is reproductive function and the ability to have biological children in the future.1 Unfortunately, cancer and cancer-related therapies can have a significant detrimental impact on future fertility and reproductive function in both men and women of reproductive age.

Strategies to Maintain Fertility in Young Breast Cancer Patients.

Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in women of reproductive age. Treatments for breast cancer may eliminate or diminish fertility, making discussions about fertility preservation essential prior to initiation of gonadotoxic therapies. Additionally, even in patients who do not require chemotherapy, the use of adjuvant endocrine therapy will often push patients out of the reproductive window before treatment is completed. The only established methods for fertility preservation are oocyte or embryo cryopreservation, but experimental methods, such as ovarian suppression with GnRH agonists and ovarian tissue cryopreservation, show great promise. Early referral to a fertility specialist for interested patients affords patients the most fertility preservation options, with only minimal delay to cancer treatment.