ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR FERTILITY PRESERVATION OF CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

Over the past years the number of young people diagnosed with cancer has been increasing. Aggressive chemotherapy and radiothera- py have resulted in an increased number of long-term cancer survivors of young cancer patients, but major side effects of these treat- ments are ovarian failure and subsequently lead to a loss of fertility. When cancer is diagnosed, patients and oncologists generally focus on treating the disease, and as a result, critical questions about fertility can go unasked or unanswered. If this happens, cancer patients may miss the only opportunity they have to preserve their ability to have a biological child. Fertility preservation should be an integral part of improving the quality of life in cancer survivors.

Keywords

• cryopreservation
• in-vitro fertilization
• oocysts
• intracytoplasmic spermatozoon injection
• cryoprotectant