Breast cancer survivors to benefit from a fertility calculator

AN ONLINE calculator will help young women diagnosed with breast cancer understand how treatments may affect their risk of infertility.

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 could also reduce their chances of having a baby.

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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 gave vague estimates and did not take into account the context of a woman’s fertility before cancer treatment, she said.

A new fertility calculator is being designed to help young women understand their personal risk of infertility. Source: ThinkStock

“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 patients’ oncologists, at the Australian Society for Medical Research Victorian Student Research Symposium.

It is being designed using global data on women with breast cancer, including information on pregnancy, fertility and treatment, before being tested and refined.

“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,” Dr Edib said.

Professor Kate Stern, head of the fertility preservation service at the Women’s and ­Melbourne IVF, said decision aids and infertility risk calculators were useful resources.

It was also important for young women to have the opportunity for a consultation with a specialist in the field.

There were a number of strategies to help optimise future fertility for women with breast cancer, including egg storage, ovarian tissue storage, and medicines to protect the eggs from potentially damage during chemotherapy.

Breast Cancer Network Australia head of policy Kathy Wells said it welcomed any new research to help women make informed decisions about their treatment and health.

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