Q&A: Fertility Preservation for Cancer Patients

Learn how cancer treatment can affect the ability for men and women to have children and what steps can be taken to preserve fertility in this Q&A with Elina Melik-Levine of Miami Cancer Institute.

[Transcript]
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[How can cancer treatment affect fertility?]
[Elina Melik-Levine ARNP Oncology Nurse Practitioner, Miami Cancer Institute]

Elina Melik-Levine: Chemotherapy and radiation therapy could affect the sperm of a male patient, could affect the eggs of a female patient, or her ovaries. Targeted therapies or hormone therapies, they may not cause immediate risk to infertility, however they could induce early menopause in women and they are known, or some are known to cause birth defects if pregnancy is achieved while taking these treatments.

Learn how cancer treatment can affect the ability for men and women to have children and what steps can be taken to preserve fertility in this Q&A with Elina Melik-Levine of Miami Cancer Institute.

[What factors influence fertility preservation efforts?]

Elina Melik-Levine: The most important factor we consider is a patient's health and whether they're stable enough to pursue any fertility sparing measures prior to their cancer treatment. We also consider whether or not that patient's cancer has spread to a different part of the body than where the cancer originated. Additionally, cost plays a huge role in whether the patient decides to preserve fertility as these treatments could be very costly.

[What are the most common fertility preservation methods?]

Elina Melik-Levine: The standard way for a male to preserve fertility is through sperm cryopreservation. For females the standard way is through egg cryopreservation or embryo cryopreservation. Additionally, females that are receiving radiation therapy to the pelvis have a unique opprotunity to go through a procedure called ovarian transpositioning that moves their ovaries out of the area that is getting radiated to reduce the risk of infertility.

[What is Miami Cancer Institute's Oncofertility Program?]

Elina Melik-Levine: The oncofertility program offers a patient-specific individualized consultation that provides education about the patient's oncology plan of care as created by the patient's primary oncology team, and the risk that that cancer treatment may pose to that patient's fertility. We then explore options for fertility preservation prior to the start of their cancer treatment or family building options that patient may want to explore after their cancer treatment has completed.

[Photo of Miami Cancer Institute building]

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