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Female options before cancer treatment
In this section we discuss ways you can preserve your fertility before starting cancer treatment. It’s ideal to discuss the options with your cancer or fertility specialist at this time. For more on this, see Making decisions.
Learn more about:
Discussing your options
Ask your cancer specialist how long you have to consider your options. In many cases, you can wait a week or two before starting cancer treatment. Be sure to understand the risks of each fertility option and keep in mind that no method works all of the time.
If you didn’t have an opportunity to discuss your options before starting treatment, you can still consider your fertility later, but there may not be as many choices available. For more on this, see Female options after cancer treatment.
Options for preserving fertility in females
Wait and see
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Egg or embryo freezing (cryopreservation)
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Ovarian tissue freezing (cryopreservation)
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Ovarian transposition (oophoropexy)
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Trachelectomy
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GnRH analogue treatment (ovarian suppression)
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How in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) works


Additional resources
Dr Ying Li, Gynaecologist and Fertility Specialist, RPA Fertility Unit, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, NSW; Dr Antoinette Anazodo, Paediatric and Adolescent Oncologist, Sydney Children’s Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, NSW, and Lead Clinician for Youth Cancer NSW/ACT; Paul Baden, Consumer; Dawn Bedwell, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council Queensland; Maurice Edwards, Special Counsel, Watts McCray Lawyers, NSW; Helena Green, Clinical Sexologist and Counsellor, InSync for Life, WA; Dr Michelle Peate, Program Leader, Psychosocial Health and Wellbeing Research (emPoWeR) Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal Women’s Hospital, The University of Melbourne, VIC; A/Prof Kate Stern, Gynaecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist and Head, Fertility Preservation Service, Royal Women’s Hospital Melbourne, The University of Melbourne, VIC; Prof Jane Ussher, Chair, Women’s Health Psychology, Translational Health Resea ch Institute (THRI), School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, NSW; Renee Van Den Bosch, Consumer.
View the Cancer Council NSW editorial policy.
View all publications or call 13 11 20 for free printed copies.
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