Research to help forecast fertility

A WORLD-FIRST online fertility calculator is being developed by Melbourne researchers to help breast cancer patients understand how treatments may affect their chances of conceiving.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data suggests on average more than two breast cancers are diagnosed in women under 40 every day.

While their treatment could eliminate the disease, it may also reduce their chances of having a baby.

Dr Zobaida Edib, from the Royal Women’s Hospital and University of Melbourne, said concerns about treatment and fertility could influence cancer treatment decisions.

“Some patients opt for the less effective cancer treatment to preserve their fertility, which may have an impact on recovery or recurrence,” she said.

“It is really important they make the decision with the correct information about their risk of infertility – for both cancer treatment and fertility preservation.”

Current tools only give vague estimates and do not take into account the context of a woman’s fertility prior to cancer treatment, she said.

“The tool will ultimately help patients to plan for treatment and decide whether to attempt to preserve their fertility prior to treatment for early breast cancer.”

Dr Edib presented her team’s plans to develop the fertility prediction tool, to be used with their oncologist, at The Australian Society for Medical Research Victorian Student Research Symposium.

“If we are able to develop the algorithm and validate it, we may be able to alter it to predict the precise risk of infertility for other cancers, for instance cervical or haematological cancer.”

Head of the fertility preservation service at the Women’s Hospital and Melbourne IVF, Professor Kate Stern, said decision aids and infertility risk calculators were useful resources and it was also important for young women to have the opportunity for a consultation with a specialist in the field.