What is Onco Freezing?
The number of cancer patients who survive after treatment and want to start a family has increased as a result of the sharp increase in cancer incidence. Male and female germ cells have been significantly affected by cancer treatments including chemotherapy and radiotherapy to the pelvic floor, with varied effects on both male and female fertility. It is best to talk to your cancer specialists about fertility difficulties before beginning cancer therapy. And they advised that before starting treatment, one should either undergo semen freezing or egg-embryo freezing.
Psychological impact on cancer-related patients
For teenagers undergoing cancer treatment, potential or actual infertility can be quite upsetting. The cancer diagnosis itself may not be as disturbing to adolescents as concerns about fertility. Most female adolescent cancer patients want to have children in the future, and over 50% of adolescent cancer patients are upset about concerns about fertility because of their cancer.
Teenagers who are undergoing treatment for cancer worry about how it may affect their fertility and the possibility of passing on the disease to their unborn children. More so than the teenagers themselves, parents could be concerned about how cancer treatment would affect their child's future relationships.
Barriers to the patients
- Parental barriers
The trio comprising the doctor, parent, and adolescent has discussions and makes decisions on oncofertility. In making decisions, parents play a significant role. The extent of FP discussions and the results of fertility decisions are influenced by parental concerns and attitudes. Parents frequently put immediate cancer treatment beginning after cancer diagnosis ahead of fertility concerns.
- Medical System Barriers
Teenagers are unable to get the support they need for concerns about cancer-related fertility because of a lack of HCP understanding and inadequate institutional guidelines. A barrier to starting fertility conversations with patients, according to HCPs, is a lack of knowledge about FP technology and international oncofertility guidelines. Another obstacle to providing oncofertility support is the ambiguity surrounding which HCPs (surgeons, oncologists, or nurses) are in charge of making referrals for fertility treatment.
Medical practice models
Cancer centres can comply with the FP national standards thanks to clinical MOCs and referral systems. MOCs outline the duties of various HCPs, including surgeons, oncologists, and nurses, in supplying advice and referrals regarding fertility. Furthermore, according to institutional guidelines, patients should regularly receive informational pamphlets or DAs about fertility resources. Additionally, institutional MOCs detail the suggested referral protocols for fertility clinics and counselling services.
Providing Onco Fertility services
It takes an interdisciplinary team effort from paediatric oncologists, medical oncologists, fertility experts, psychologists, and other healthcare professionals to provide adolescents with cancer-related fertility concerns with the kind of support they need. The multidisciplinary oncofertility team is a valuable asset that includes psychologists.
At all stages of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, young women have expressed the importance of emotional support for fertility concerns. Teenagers who are making stressful and time-constrained FP decisions can benefit from psychological support. To better understand the function of psychological support during oncofertility counselling, a randomised controlled trial is currently being conducted.
Conclusion
For doctors and nurses who treat adolescent patients, specialised oncofertility education should be created. HCPs must comprehend the intricate considerations that go into teenage oncofertility decisions.
HCPs must be capable of assessing their patient's health literacy, knowledge of fertility, decision-making skills, and willingness for parental engagement. Cost and resource constraints limit patients' access to adequate fertility information and referrals at the system level.
For more information about this procedure, request an appointment at Apollo Fertility in Varthur or call 1860-500-4424 to book an appointment.
A kind of cryotherapy called cryoablation employs extremely freezing temperatures to freeze and kill aberrant malignant and precancerous cells. This efficient outpatient cancer treatment uses cold therapy to stop the growth and spread of tumour cells.
Cells in the tumour tissue are destroyed by freezing during cryoablation. Cryoablation causes tumour cell death by osmosis and necrosis, in contrast to heat-based ablative methods.
Cryosurgery offers an 85 to 90% success rate, according to Planned Parenthood. Your doctor might suggest a different gynaecological surgery if the abnormal cells are still present three to six months following the initial procedure. Usually, as soon as cryosurgery is over, you can resume your regular activities.
Some malignancies have significant rates of recurrence and are challenging to treat. For instance, almost all patients with glioblastoma have recurrence despite treatment. Ovarian cancer patients experience a high rate of recurrence, at 85%.
Lesions with poorly defined margins, those that are >2 cm in diameter, >3 mm in depth, or those that are attached to underlying structures should not be treated with cryosurgery.
