Creating a Global Community of Practice for Oncofertility

Abstract

Fertility preservation in the cancer setting, known as oncofertility, is a field that requires cross-disciplinary interaction between physicians, basic scientists, clinical researchers, ethicists, lawyers, educators, and religious leaders. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Oncofertility Consortium (OC) was formed to be a scientifically grounded, transparent, and altruistic resource, both intellectual and monetary, for building this new field of practice capable of addressing the unique needs of young patients with cancer. The OC has expanded its attention to include other nonmalignant conditions that can threaten fertility, and the work of the OC now extends around the globe, involving partners who together have created a community of shared effort, resources, and practices. The OC creates materials that are translated, disseminated, and amended by all participants in the field, and local programs of excellence have developed worldwide to accelerate the pace and improve the quality of oncofertility research and practice. Here we review the global oncofertility programs and the capacity building activities that strengthen these research and clinical programs, ultimately improving patient care.

Childbearing across borders: Fertility and parenthood attitudes and decisions among breast cancer survivors in USA and Portugal

“…In 2016, the Portuguese Society of Oncology published recommendations concerning FP in cancer patients for the Portuguese population [14]. Concomitantly, various clinical intervention efforts have been made to strengthen the importance of fertility counselling for Portuguese cancer patients [16, 17]. Our results show oncologists are the preferred source of fertility information.…”

Fertility preservation in adolescent and young adult cancer patients: From a part of a national survey on oncofertility in Japan

“…In Japan, the first live birth following ovarian tissue freezing/autotransplantation was reported in 2015, and nationwide medical cooperation is being developed under the leadership of the Japan Society for Fertility Preservation . These circumstances may highlight the importance of providing cancer patients with support in relation to decision‐making on fertility preservation before treatment .…”

Clinical summary guide: reproduction in women with previous abdominopelvic radiotherapy or total body irradiation

“…In addition to primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), female survivors of cancer who are treated with abdominopelvic radiotherapy (AP RT) or total body irradiation (TBI) are at risk of damage to the uterus. This may impact on its function and manifest as infertility or adverse obstetric outcomes including preterm birth (PTB) and low birthweight (LBW), foetal growth restriction (FGR), uterine rupture, stillbirth and pre-eclampsia ( Larsen et al , 2004 ; Signorello et al , 2006 ; Ataman et al , 2016 ; Marklund et al , 2018 ; van de Loo et al , 2019 ; van der Kooi et al , 2019 ). Tumours requiring AP RT include tumours of the rectum, anus, cervix and bladder, desmoid tumours and sarcomas.…”