Female Oncofertility: Advocate Your Patients Fertile Future

Explore oncofertility options to preserve fertility for young cancer patients, including egg and embryo freezing, vitrification, and age-related success rates, with practical guidance on transfer choices.

In ovarian stimulation, multiple follicles are encouraged to grow with injections, targeting about five per side; baseline ultrasound and AMH guide egg retrieval for fertility preservation.

Explore how age affects ovarian egg reserve and how fertility medications like Follistim, Gonal-F, and Menopur stimulate follicles for IVF, including flexible stimulation protocols.

Clinicians in oncofertility perform ultrasound-guided transvaginal egg retrieval within a window after trigger shots, under anesthesia, to suction eggs from follicles for lab fertilization and freezing as eggs or embryos.

Examine risks in egg freezing, including hormonal medications and ovarian hyperstimulation with enlargement and twisting, needle bleeding, anesthesia complications, and rare infections, with evidence showing no known defects in babies.

Ovarian tissue freezing offers a rapid laparoscopic, experimental option for fertility preservation in prepubertal girls, with about 30 live births reported worldwide but unknown success rates.

Explore fertility protection options before and during cancer treatment, including ovarian tissue freezing, oophoropexy, and shielding, plus GnRH agonists during chemotherapy to pause ovarian function and preserve hormones.

Explore how frozen embryo transfer enables surrogacy for cancer patients, including embryo thaw, estrogen and Lupron protocols, surrogate matching, legal steps, and the emotional journey of intended parents.

A surrogate gestational carrier shares the journey of waiting for the baby, embryos harvested years earlier, and the hope of biological parenthood through surrogacy options, including donor eggs.

Explore the emotional and medical journey of selecting a sperm donor, coordinating IVF timing with the oncologist, and using preimplantation genetic diagnosis to optimize healthy embryos for cancer survivors.

Explore how California Cryobank recruits and screens donors—medical testing, genetic counseling, long eligibility criteria, and storage, quarantining, and shipping options—highlighting the long-term family impact.

Navigate oncology patients from diagnosis to fertility preservation by providing education on fertility options and coordinating care to overcome time, cost, and access barriers.