Rates of Fertility Discussions and Counseling Before, During, and After Anticancer Treatments

Authors:
Verity Chadwick Women’s and Babies Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

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Georgia Mills Northern Beaches Hospital, NSW, Australia
Macquarie University Medical School, NSW, Australia

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 MBBS
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Catherine Tang Department of Haematology, Gosford Hospital, Gosford, NSW, Australia
School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

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Antoinette Anazodo Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Prince of Wales Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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 MBBS, PhD
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Rachel Dear St Vincent’s Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Department of Oncology, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia

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 MBBS, PhD
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Rachael Rogers Department of Reproductive Medicine, Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Orly Lavee Department of Haematology, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia

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Samuel Milliken Department of Haematology, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia

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Georgia McCaughan St Vincent’s Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Department of Haematology, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia

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Nada Hamad St Vincent’s Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Department of Haematology, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Volume/Issue:
Volume 23: Issue 2
Online Publication Date:
Feb 2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2024.7068
Restricted access

Background: Cancer treatment can significantly reduce reproductive potential in female patients. This study sought to explore the incidence of fertility counseling in women of childbearing potential before, during, and after anticancer therapies. Methods: We conducted a retrospective medical record review at a major Australian cancer center of premenopausal females aged 18 to 49 years diagnosed with cancer between 2017 and 2020. Results: A total of 143 patients met inclusion criteria. Of these patients, only 12.6% had a reproductive health history documented at the first consult and just more than half (58%) had a fertility preservation discussion documented with their primary hematologist or oncologist. A quarter (25.9%) saw a specialist gynecologist to discuss fertility preservation options, and 11.2% were offered a referral but declined. Conclusions: In an Australian major cancer center, only half of women with a new malignancy diagnosis had documented reproductive counseling. Promoting and facilitating reproductive counseling needs to be addressed through strengthening working relationships between fertility preservation specialists and oncologists/hematologists, implementing technology systems to ensure fertility preservation documentation, and improving staff education.

Submitted March 3, 2024; final revision received July 28, 2024; accepted for publication August 16, 2024.

Author contributions: Conceptualization: Hamad. Data curation: Chadwick, Hamad. Investigation: Chadwick. Methodology: Chadwick, Mills, Hamad. Project administration: Mills, Hamad. Supervision: Hamad. Writing—original draft: Chadwick. Writing—review & editing: All authors.

Disclosures: The authors have disclosed that they have not received any financial considerations from any person or organization to support the preparation, analysis, results, or discussion of this article.

Correspondence: Nada Hamad, MBBS, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital, 370 Victoria Road, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia. Email: Nada.Hamad@svha.org.au
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Print ISSN:
1540-1405
Online ISSN:
1540-1413
Publisher:
National Comprehensive Cancer Network
Cover Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
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Copyright:
Copyright © 2025 by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 2025
Page Numbers:
6
Article Category:
Research Article
Received:
03 Mar 2024
Accepted:
16 Aug 2024
Print Publication Date:
01 Feb 2025
Online Publication Date:
Feb 2025

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