Communication Between Oncofertility Providers and Patients

Even with all of the stresses that come with a new cancer diagnosis, such as understanding the chances of survival, impending treatments, fi nancial burdens, and familial and work obligations, many young people diagnosed with cancer have signi fi cant concerns about their future fertility. In fact, among young women with cancer, concerns about children and family are second only to fears of cancer recurrence and an uncertain future [ 1 ] . A study by Partridge et al. asked 657 women under the age of 41 years at the time of diagnosis with breast cancer to complete a web-based survey about fertility issues [ 2 ] . More than half (57%) of young women with breast cancer recalled substantial having concerns about future infertility, and univariate analysis revealed several variables that were associated with increased concern about future fertility (Table 11.1 ). In multivariate analyses, a greater concern about fertility was associated with a desire to have more children, the prior number of pregnancies, and a history of dif fi culty conceiving. While some studies have asked patients about “fertility concerns” in general, others have narrowed down the issue to focus on speci fi c questions that are commonly mentioned. For example, Thewes et al. identi fi ed the most common speci fi c fertility questions that plague breast cancer patients (n = 228) and the frequency at which these questions are satisfactorily addressed (Table 11.2 ) [ 3 ] .