Jackelyn B. Payne, MPH, MA, on Fertility Preservation in AYAs with Cancer

According to an article published in the journal ONCOLOGY®,though more adolescent and young adult (AYA) women appear to be engaging in discussions with their oncologists about the risk of fertility loss and fertility preservation options, a significant number are still not being given the information they desire and therefore are not making fully informed treatment decisions.

Given this finding, the researchers suggested that future studies of shared decision-making about fertility preservation should include measures of psychosocial constructs in order to highlight the importance of perceived involvement in decision-making. Additionally, it was indicated that further study of the impact of treatment delays due to fertility preservation is needed in more diverse settings.

“As patients progress to survivorship, regardless of their fertility preservation treatment decision, care teams should continue to monitor fertility outcomes of AYA women and provide them information regarding family planning to protect against further distress, especially as the extent of damage to fertility due to treatment is often uncertain,” the authors wrote.

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Jackelyn B. Payne, MPH, MA, a doctoral student in the department of Psychology at Stony Brook University and one of the authors of the paper, explained the importance of fertility preservation in this patient population and what more needs to be done to ensure this patient population receives the proper care.

This segment comes from the CancerNetwork® portion of the MJH Life Sciences Medical World News, airing daily on all MJH Life Sciences channels.

Reference:

Payne JB, Flowers CR, Allen PB. Supporting Decision-Making on Fertility Preservation Among Adolescent and Young Adult Women With Cancer. ONCOLOGY.https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/supporting-decision-making-on-fertility-preservation-among-adolescent-and-young-adult-women-with-cancer