Children born to mothers who had trouble getting pregnant for more than a year or who were given fertility drugs to stimulate their ovaries may be more likely to develop leukaemia, new research suggests.
Tag: cancer
Why aren’t more young cancer patients preserving their fertility?
The answer to the question above, according to a recent study in the journal Cancer, is that too often, young women who have cancer simply don’t understand their options when it comes to preventing the loss of their chance to have a child or more children. According to Reuters Health, which reported on the new research late last month, only one in every 25 women who was diagnosed with one of five types of cancer since the early 1990s opted to freeze eggs or embryos prior to cancer treatment — in spite of the fact that 47 to 63 percent said they wanted to have a child or children.
This finding is the result of research on 1,000 women in California ages 18 to 40 who’d been diagnosed with cancer between 1993 and 2007. Sixty-one percent of the women said their doctors talked to them about how cancer treatment could affect their chances of having a baby and how they could preserve their fertility — which means that 39 percent of patients didn’t get that guidance. Just four percent of those who got counseling about fertility preservation took action – by freezing eggs or embryos before, say, they underwent chemotherapy or radiation.
The research found, not surprisingly, that the women who had been counseled about how to save their fertility, or minimize the impact of treatment on their ability to conceive, were much less likely to feel regret later, versus the women who’d never talked to a doctor about their options for having a child or children later before undergoing treatment. Though the most recent data is still five years old, there’s reason to believe we still have a bit to go before all young women who get a cancer diagnosis are aware of all their options for having a family as they consider the treatment plan that’s right for them.
Height, BMI, Tied to Ovarian Cancer
A new analysis of published and unpublished studies concludes that risk for ovarian cancer is associated with increasing height. It also finds that among women who have never used hormone therapy for the menopause, the risk for developing the disease is also tied to increasing body mass index, BMI, a measure of obesity.
Injectable Contraceptives Linked to Increased Breast Cancer Risk
An injectable form of progestin-only birth control has been found to double the risk of breast cancer in young women after just a year or more of use, a new study suggests.
New Hope for Women as Ovarian Transplant Operations to Become Available in the UK
Three women who have received ovarian transplants have given birth to seven children, with one expecting again.
Young Cancer Survivors Rarely Take Steps to Prevent Infertility
There are nearly half a million cancer survivors of reproductive age in the U.S., and new research finds that very few of them are taking steps to make sure they will retain the option of having children before starting treatment.
Infertility is Not Your Whole Identity
by Iris Waichler, L.C.S.W.
I just finished reading an article about a woman who is battling breast cancer. Thirty seven year old Alaina Giordano lost primary custody …
Child-Free Living on Father’s Day
About 10 years ago, I received a call from my dad just before Father’s Day. My mom had recently died from her second bout with cancer, and my dad and I had become extremely close as a result. After the usual check-in conversation (how are …