Fertility Preservation in Cancer Survivors

Fertility Preservation in Cancer Survivors

Cancer in women specifically breast cancer is much more common these days. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ISMR) around 1.5 lakh, new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the year 2016. Unfortunately, these cases were 10% of all types of cancer cases in the country. As cancer cases go about increasing day-by-day so as the treatment strategies and survival rates.

When a woman is diagnosed with breast or some other form of cancer, she is also advised to consult the Best Infertility Specialist in India. The fertility specialist is recommended to preserve the motherhood of a woman by freezing her embryos or oocytes before starting the cancer treatment. Now, you may wonder about the connection between the two.

How Cancer and Fertility Are Connected?

Cancer does not directly affect the fertility of a woman. The treatment of cancer, however, can have a major impact on fertility. Hence, when a woman is detected with cancer, she needs to know how her fertility will be affected during the treatment.

The common cancer treatments, that is, chemotherapy and radiotherapy utilize medications and radiation to damage the cancerous cells. This results in controlling or stopping the cells from dividing. The therapy, however, cannot differentiate between cancer and normal cells. Hence, it also affects the normal dividing cells such as the eggs. The treatment may go on to reduce the number of eggs causing complete or partial loss of fertility.

How Fertility Preservation May Help?

Fertility preservation is a rescue for a woman to preserve her right to be a mother. Being the Best Egg Freezing Hospital in Ahmedabad, we educate and help women to become mothers even after their rigorous cancer treatment. We call it oncofertility. This sub-speciality deals with oncology and the reproductive system. It bridges the gap between cancer survivors and pregnancy. Egg freezing or embryo freezing comes out as a ray of hope for women to experience the joy of pregnancy.

Many of our patients have frozen their embryos and conceived through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) after years of cancer therapy. One of our patients fought cancer for four long years. The battle with cancer diminished her production of eggs. Today, however, with egg-freezing and IVF, she is blessed with a baby girl.

We have seen a lot of women going through a difficult time after diagnosing with cancer. Of course, the disease leaves no stone unturned to affect both the physical and mental well-being. The unmarried women are mostly concerned about their life after the treatment. With prior fertility discussion, however, the risk of developing psychological issues is lesser.

We are the Best IVF Hospital in Gujarat and we recommend egg freezing to both married and unmarried women. Unmarried women can preserve their oocytes before starting chemotherapy. They can use it post their treatment in future and plan their pregnancy.

Things To Keep in Mind

Although cancer patients are recommended to consult a fertility specialist yet the worldwide uptake of oocyte or embryo freezing is only about 10%. Hence, there needs to be awareness among cancer patients regarding fertility preservation.

Fertility preservation is an excellent option but not every cancer patient can do it. In many cases, it gets too late for a patient to reach a conclusion and preserve their oocytes or embryos. In such cases, the patients can go for IVF by receiving donor eggs. Egg donation is also a successful treatment option for women with infertility who have failed to preserve eggs.

The entire procedure of fertility preservation depends on the stage of detection and the fate of the patient. The quicker the patient, the higher the chances of preservation.

WINGS IVF

Wings IVF Women’s Hospital is a premier motherhood hospital in the western part of India. We are a premier chain of IVF clinics with more than 20000 live births through IVF in the last 17 years. Over 17 years, we have helped more than hundreds of cancer patients to preserve their eggs and become mothers through IVF. Our team of experts along with the latest and advanced technologies can guide and help you on your journey towards motherhood.