Guidance aims to preserve fertility of female patients

GUIDANCE has been released on how to preserve fertility in women and girls undergoing treatments such as chemotherapy.

Many of the medicines used to treat diseases such as cancer can make patients infertile, including chemotherapy and radiation.

The British Fertility Society has issued a set of guidelines for clinicians on saving fertility in women undergoing medical treatment.

Professor Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said: “Our guidelines are designed to help our members and the wider fertility community to decide on the best course of treatment, in consultation with these patients.”

The guidance was published on Thursday in the British Fertility Society journal, Human Fertility.

It covers established techniques, including freezing unfertilised eggs and embryo preservation, as well as others such as the freezing and transplantation of ovarian tissue.

One of the authors, Dr Melanie Davies, of University College London Hospitals, said: “Embryo preservation is the most established technique but it isn’t suitable for people who don’t have the sperm of a partner to fertilise eggs.

“It is far more common now to freeze unfertilised eggs, and this is now considered an established method of fertility preservation.

“But there are also promising experimental approaches coming to the fore. For example, a person can now have part of an ovary frozen that can later be transplanted back into their body.”