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The Most Common Causes of Infertility and How They are Treated

Infertility can affect both men and women when they are trying to build a family naturally. When an individual or couple has been trying to conceive for more than a year without success, they may be experiencing infertility. What typically causes infertility is not narrowed down to one specific thing, therefore each case has to be assessed individually. That being said, in a majority of cases, infertility can be treated with medical intervention.

What is Oncofertility? Understanding Fertility Preservation for Cancer Patients

Many people desire to build families at a point in their lives. Assisted reproductive technologies have granted more autonomy for women in their family building choices and at the same time provided solutions for people who otherwise thought they could not have biological children. As well, ARTs have provided a way for differently structured families, such as same sex couples to have children who carry their genes. One area in which ARTs have been particularly valuable is in the preservation of fertility. Fertility preservation in simpler terms is cryofreezing eggs, sperm or embryos in order to use them later to build families. While many may opt to cryofreeze out of preference, others cryofreeze for medical reasons. The treatment of cancer tends to have a negative impact on a person’s fertility, even when treatment is successful. Let us discuss oncofertility; how reproductive health is managed in the face of cancer treatments.

Egg Freezing Before Chemotherapy: What You Need to Know

Many options are weighed when it comes to the treatment of cancer. Starting with the type of cancer, the health of the patient, the most effective treatment, the treatment window, and the odds of survival. Typically chemotherapy is used across many types of cancer, and while effective, it may render the patients unable to build families in the future. For women, chemotherapy can impact their egg production resulting in early menopause. In consideration of their family building goals, egg freezing before chemotherapy can be used to give them a chance to have children after treatment. So let us talk about the impact of chemotherapy on a person’s fertility and why egg freezing can be an important consideration prior to the start of treatment.

Sperm Freezing for Cancer Patients: A Step-by-Step Guide

Right from the word go, cancer treatments can negatively impact a person’s fertility. For many patients who had hoped to build their families, this can come as discouraging news. However cancer patients can still build their families after completing their treatments using assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Typically, cancer patients who wish to have children in the future have an option to preserve their fertility prior to beginning treatment. This is called oncofertility, or fertility preservation for cancer patients. Men can freeze their sperm ahead of their cancer treatment and the process is a straightforward one for the patient.

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