When someone is diagnosed with cancer, it’s no surprise that the focus is on treatment. Often, the last thing a person may think about (if they think about it at all) is preserving fertility.

However, because treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation can harm a person’s fertility, sometimes permanently, young patients and patients in their childbearing years should talk to their physicians about their fertility options prior to cancer treatments. These options include:

• Banking sperm or embryos prior to treatment
• Asking about banking eggs, ovarian or testicular tissues, procedures that are still being studied and may be available at certain centers in the U.S.
• Discussing other options after treatment, such as donor sperm or eggs, surrogacy or adoption

Options for Men
Men wishing to store sperm prior to cancer treatments have two options: locating a lab or bank nearby where they can complete the process in person or shipping samples to a bank for long-term storage. For example, men living near Atlanta or Augusta, Ga., can leave samples at Xytex Tissue Storage’s offices in person, and complete all necessary labwork and paperwork there too. Or, XTS can provide an easy-to-use Cryokit (TM) to anyone across the U.S. The in-home collection kit includes instructions, supplies, bloodwork requisitions (to be taken to a lab close to the client’s home) and an express return label. Once the kit is returned to the bank, the samples are placed into long-term storage. In both cases, a semen analysis report is provided regarding the quality of the banked samples.

Men should allow at least a week prior to cancer treatments in order to bank a sufficient number of samples. About three samples (obtained after 24 hours of abstinence) is recommended.

At a later date, the cryopreserved sperm may be thawed and used for ICI (intracervical insemination), IUI (intrauterine insemination), IVF (in vitro fertilization, which involves combining sperm and egg in a laboratory dish) or ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which is injecting a single sperm into an egg). Families should discuss the best method of insemination with their health care provider.

Options for Women
Women who wish to preserve their fertility prior to cancer treatments also have two options: egg or embryo storage. In both cases, women would undergo ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval. With egg storage, the eggs would then be frozen and transferred to a cryobank for long-term storage; with embryo storage, eggs would be combined with sperm (either from a partner or a donor) to create embryos, which would be frozen and transferred for long-term storage. Patients should be aware that the process takes about two to three weeks and that a stimulation cycle could trigger some tumor growth in certain cancers like breast cancer. It’s important that women with cancer carefully discuss the pros and cons with their oncologists prior to treatment.

Other Options
Ovarian tissue and testicular tissue, once retrieved and cryopreserved by a physician, can also be stored by cryobanks like XTS.

Should there not be enough time prior to treatment to store, cancer patients can still explore other options to realize their dreams of having a family, including donor eggs and sperm, as well as surrogacy or adoption.

A diagnosis of cancer doesn’t guarantee a loss of fertility. Certain treatments may affect fertility for a short time, permanently, or in some cases, not at all. However, all patients are encouraged to talk to their physicians before their cancer treatments and explore all their options.

For more information about sperm, embryo and reproductive tissue banking, contact Xytex Tissue Storage at 800-277-3210 or visit www.xytextissues.com.

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