Fertility preservation offers options to pediatric patients with cancer

MONTREAL — Emerging strategies such as oocyte cryopreservation and ovarian tissue cryopreservation are offering young patients with cancer ways of preserving their fertility in adulthood, according to an infertility specialist speaking here at the annual meeting of the Canadian Pediatric Endocrine Group.

“As cancer therapies improve and more patients are surviving their disease, a new focus on long-term quality-of-life issues such as fertility are now being considered more carefully,” said Aaron Jackson, MD, FRCSC, an obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist at the Ottawa Fertility Centre in Canada. “Studies show that a loss of fertility is distressing to patients.”

To date, there have been 45 live births worldwide, with all babies born healthy after the transplantation of frozen-thawed ovarian tissue, and with most of these successful pregnancies occurring in women younger than 30 years, Jackson said.

One of the concerns with ovarian tissue cryopreservation is re-introducing malignancy to patients, he said. It is not a grave concern with malignancies such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but it is a potential risk with cancers such as leukemia.

In contrast to their patients, this issue is not necessarily a top priority for clinicians, Jackson said. He showed the results a survey of physicians in the province of Ontario, Canada. Of those surveyed, 74% said they rarely or never modify cancer treatments because of fertility concerns, and 69.7% said they rarely or never refer female patients for a fertility preservation consultation.

– by Louise Gagnon

Disclosure: Jackson reports no relevant financial disclosures.