Oncofertility

Planning for a Family After Cancer

If you’re thinking of having children or want to keep that as an option in the future, Sanford Oncofertility can help.

Cancer and cancer therapies can affect fertility. Oncofertility – a combination of cancer and fertility medicine – helps you preserve fertility before cancer treatment.

Oncofertility Treatment Options

We help both men and women achieve their family planning goals. Your options include:

• Egg freezing: Some of a woman’s unfertilized eggs are harvested, frozen and stored.
• Embryo freezing:Unfertilized eggs are harvested, inseminated with sperm, grown to maturity and frozen for a frozen embryo transfer at a later time.
• In vitro maturation: Doctors harvest immature eggs. These eggs are matured in a laboratory either before or after freezing.
• Ovarian transposition:卵巢移位是指将一个或两个卵巢移出放疗区域。通常，它们会转移到腹壁，远离辐射的目标。
• Ovarian suppression:使用药物阻止卵巢产生雌激素。这种手术是乳腺癌治疗的一部分，也是保持生育能力的一种方法。
• Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD): Testing the cells of frozen embryos for genetic problems including cancer genes.
• Pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS):检测冷冻胚胎的细胞，以确保它们具有标准的染色体数目。
• Sperm banking: Collecting and freezing multiple semen samples over a period of a few days.

Many people have children after cancer using these fertility methods. One woman worked with her oncologist from the beginning, andshe's now celebrating the birth of her daughter. Find out which option works best for you. Talk to a reproductive endocrinology specialist as early as possible before getting cancer treatment.

Find a Reproductive Endocrinologist

What Can Affect My Fertility?

手术和化疗通常对你的生育能力影响最大。But there are several factors that can determine whether cancer treatments affect your fertility, including:

• Age
• Duration of treatment
• Location of radiation

Who is Eligible for Fertility Preservation?

You can start planning for a family as soon as you’re diagnosed with cancer.

最好和生殖专家谈谈保存生育能力的方法。You might consider fertility preservation if:

• You are in your reproductive stage of life and are concerned with preserving your fertility after cancer treatment
• You are in your mid- to late-30s and not sure what the future holds, but would like to keep your options open for a family

Your Oncofertility Team

Oncofertility is for anyone about to receive treatment that may be destructive to ovaries or testicles, affecting fertility.

You’ll work with experienced specialists who are part of the Oncofertility Consortium, a national group exploring survivorship and fertility. A reproductive endocrinologist at Sanford Health explains more in a Sanford Health News podcast.

Listen to the podcast.

You have plenty on your mind when you’re going through cancer treatment. You shouldn’t have to worry about your future family. Choose Sanford Health to help you choose the most appropriate way to protect your fertility.