Identifying need: Providing young cancer patients with fertility info and support

Cancer patients of reproductive age are not being provided with fertility information and referrals for fertility preservation, according to a new report published in Wiley’s Psycho-Oncology.

In the analysis of 23 relevant studies, investigators found that many clinicians are broadly informed about the risk to their patients' fertility brought about by cancer treatment, but many factors hinder the appropriate discussions and referrals needed to provide adequate fertility support to patients of reproductive age. For example, some oncology clinicians may lack appropriate fertility knowledge and be unsure whose role it is to provide fertility support.

“Impaired fertility brought about by cancer treatment leads to long-term psychological distress and lowered quality of life for cancer patients of a reproductive age. As such, it is paramount that clinicians are able to deliver onco-fertility services to the standard of best practice guidelines, to assist in lowering long term distress,” said Shanna Logan, lead author of the article. “However, as the results of this review indicate, oftentimes onco-fertilty-related services are not delivered to the standard required or in line with patient's needs. Moving forward, the results of this review will be utilized to aid in the development of an international competency framework, to better assist clinicians in providing necessary onco-fertility care in the future."