Transcript

So, what about the case of fertility in young women with breast cancer?

 

Yes, that’s really important, because a lot has changed in the last ten to fifteen years. There’s no question that in young women, fertility can be preserved. There are many different procedures and many treatments, but not all of them are available everywhere in Canada, and some are not even covered by health insurance. So, we usually ask, and this is an issue with chemotherapy, not with radiation not even with hormonal therapy, that this be discussed with the treating physician. There are ways to quickly preserve fertility before chemotherapy is started. Once a woman is finished with her treatment and wishes to become pregnant, there’s little or no risk to conceiving or the fetus, so we’ve had many joyous pregnancies afterwards. So, it’s possible.

 

Is there a minimum wait period?

 

It all depends on the cancer and the treatments. But, it’s possible, and fertility can be preserved. First of all, if the patient has had a radiated breast, she can’t breastfeed because she won’t produce milk. But, the other breast, fine, no problem. I’ve seen it where women have had children after breast cancer and she has breastfed and there’s no problem with it at all.

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