Cancer patients sometimes have to undergo treatments that may damage healthy tissue and can cause infertility or reproductive problems. Of the roughly 1.5 million people diagnosed with cancer this past year, about 10% were younger than 45 years old, an age group generally able to bear children. For this reason, the field of fertility preservation has been growing rapidly leading to the development of multiple approaches to maintaining both women’s and men’s capacities to bear children after cancer treatment. One of the most notable advances has been the development of ways to preserve women’s immature oocytes (unfertilized eggs), but the eggs are very delicate. It is easier to preserve an embryo (an egg that has already been fertilized), but this approach is not always best for younger patients who have not yet met their life partners. The field of fertility preservation is still in a state of development, and there are still boundaries to overcome, but the progress made offers hope for young cancer survivors wishing to raise families.
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