How cancer treatments affect fertility
Cancer is the name given to a disease caused by the body’s cells dividing without stopping.
When this happens, the cells form a cluster of abnormal cells that grow and can often move to parts of the body where they are not needed.
Cancer treatments try to remove the cancer and stop it from coming back. The main treatments are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, hormone therapy and targeted drug therapy.
Most cancer treatments have side effects, but people can be affected differently by the same treatment. Some side effects last for a short time, but some can last longer. In young women, one possible side effect is lowered fertility.
The parts of a young woman’s body that are involved in fertility are called the ‘reproductive system’ (see image 1).
The key parts of the reproductive system (image 1 above) are:
- Ovaries – these two organs sit on either side of the womb inside a woman’s body between her hips (pelvis). The ovaries make the eggs and hormones needed to have a baby. These eggs travel down the fallopian tubes to the womb.
- Egg (oocyte) – the female reproductive cell, which after fertilisation with sperm is capable of developing into a baby.
- Fallopian tubes – the two tubes that connect each ovary to the womb (uterus) and this is where the egg is fertilised by the man’s sperm.
- Womb (uterus) – this sits inside the pelvis and gives the fertilised egg (embryo) a safe place to grow.
- Cervix – the opening to the womb which allows menstrual blood to leave the body (periods), and the woman to give birth.
- Vagina (birth canal) – the opening between the lower part of the cervix and the outside of the body.
- Vulva – the area around the entrance to the vagina.
Cancer treatments can affect fertility by:
- Damaging or lowering the number of eggs stored in the ovaries.
- Damaging the part of the brain that controls the fertility hormones.
- Removing or damaging a part of the female reproductive system.
The ways in which cancer treatments affect fertility depends upon the type of cancer and the treatment you may have.
Not all young women that have cancer treatment will have a fertility problem in the future.
