Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: fertility + cancer + 0.15  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/5/2008)

Breast MRI Helps Diagnose Christina Applegate's Breast Cancer KLAS-TV, NV - Many of them think, what about my fertility? So there's just a whole different set of issues for these women, and it's very scary for them and very ... Fertility Center of California Sperm Bank Expands Patient Service ... PR Web (press release), WA - Long-term storage of sperm and embryos is sometimes of significance to couples before undergoing cancer treatment, a vasectomy or before an upcoming ... Baby Libbie is our little miracle after five years of pain GazetteLive, UK - Gail was told she had ?unexplained? fertility problems and they opted for IVF treatment. To their delight, Gail fell pregnant after the first attempt and ... Men have ticking biological clocks, too BirminghamMail.net, UK - ... in childhood or adolescence, or illness such as cancer. Men, in general, are probably unaware that they may be affected by low fertility or infertility. ... Freeman seriously hurt in crash Arizona Republic, AZ - "But we have been fortunate never to have had fertility problems." The money is more than double the $6 million that People paid to put Jennifer Lopez's ... Newsweek Survive Cancer, Have Baby Newsweek - Jul 26, 2008 As cancer survival rates climb and patients focus on quality-of-life issues, especially fertility, Dauer and others like her are forcing two very different ... Cervical cancer Globe and Mail, Canada - Aug 1, 2008 There are new developments for women who want to retain their fertility. This treatment involves removing just the cervix and tissue around the cervix, ... Canada.com Cancer patients' fertility hope BBC News, UK - Jul 7, 2008 This potentially increases the chance that a cancer patient could receive fertility-protecting treatment even if she urgently needs chemotherapy. ... New fertility technique targets women with cancer Reuters UK New Technique Helps Preserve Fertility In Cancer Patients RedOrbit Fertility breakthrough doubles chance of women with cancer having ... Daily Mail Cancer Research UK - News & Resources - The Press Association all 23 news articles » A frozen first (?2) in Minnesota Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - Jul 30, 2008 Dr. Jani Jensen, also a fertility expert at Mayo, said that the effort is a response to the high survival rates among young cancer patients. ... Doctors give cancer patients more options to preserve fertility Kansas City Star, MO - Jul 12, 2008 Her doctor may not have even told her that her fertility was at risk. But Smith is benefiting from a revolution in cancer care ? some are calling it ...

Cancer Doesn't Have to Cost You Your Fertility

 THURSDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer treatment advances are giving younger patients the chance to preserve their fertility, enabling them to start families at a future date, a new review states.

According to a report in the July/August issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, physicians can offer an enhanced chance of protecting fertility without negatively affecting the outcome of cancer treatment or survival.

"This is very good news because it shows that the number of people who are being treated with cancer and living, and are able to be concerned about fertility, is increasing," said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in Baton Rouge, La. "We didn't have this problem years ago because people didn't live."

According to the review, the last two decades have seen enormous progress in the five-year survival rates for most cancers.

Simultaneous with this progress has been an improved ability to preserve fertility without affecting the success of the treatment.

Both radiation and chemotherapy, staples of cancer treatment, can affect men's and women's ability to have children. In addition, surgery for testicular or ovarian cancer can diminish or eliminate the possibility of producing a baby.

For this review, the authors looked at the most common cancers affecting young adults as well as some less common cancers that directly affect the reproductive organs. The cancers included breast, cervical, endometrial, ovarian, and testicular tumors, as well as leukemia and lymphoma.

"The outlook is much more hopeful because technologies have improved and we have begun to understand cancer better so we can offer more conservative therapies," said Dr. Carolyn Runowicz, one of the review's authors. She is president-elect of the American Cancer Society and director of the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.

Today, a young woman with ovarian cancer may be able to keep her uterus and to retain one ovary -- or at least tissue from one ovary.

Older strategies of keeping ovaries in a quiescent phase or freezing oocytes (eggs) have had only limited success. Newer, more promising strategies include freezing strips of ovarian tissue, then reimplanting them after the cancer treatment is completed.

In June, a 28-year-old Israeli woman whose ovaries had been destroyed by high-dose chemotherapy gave birth to a healthy baby girl after doctors transplanted some of her own frozen ovarian tissue. This was the first time such a technique was successful.

"To me, this is very exciting," Runowicz said. "It's still obviously investigational but it shows a light at the end of the tunnel."

Cryopreservation (freezing) of semen is recommended for men with testicular cancer who wish to have children in the future. Although the procedure and technology are relatively simple, few men take advantage of this option, the review noted.

"Many times people who are diagnosed with cancer want to get treated yesterday," Brooks said. "The cancer is so pressing they don't think about the fertility issues."

Later, however, when the cancer treatment is over, many men (and women) regain past priorities. By that time, it can be too late.

"Cryopreservation of sperm has been available for a while but when people hear the word cancer, saving sperm seems like an unnecessary delay," Runowicz said. "Then, all of sudden when you're better, they say, 'Gee whiz, I should have done that.'"

"One message for men is cancer doesn't happen like an emergency and is not an emergency in most cases," Runowicz continued. "They have time to explore and bring up that subject [sperm preservation] if the treating physician does not."

More information

To learn more about infertility, visit the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.