Fertility preservation: what are my options?

This section tells you about the fertility preservation options young women with cancer can have before they start having cancer treatment.

You can choose:

• No fertility preservation: so you can start cancer treatment straight away.
• Freezing: is a way of storing eggs, embryos or ovarian tissue.
• Ovarian suppression: may help protect the ovaries during cancer treatment.
• Specific surgery: fertility sparing surgery may be possible for some young women.

Picture 1 below shows the fertility preservation choices young women could make before they begin their cancer treatment. It is important to remember that not all of the procedures are available in every fertility clinic. Some of the choices are newer treatments where data regarding success rates is still being assessed.

Your cancer and fertility care teams will be able to advise you more and will be able to discuss the options that are available to you

Try to remember…

Each fertility option has a different level of success.

• No option works 100% of the time.
• The success rates for each option will be different for each young woman.
• None of the options can guarantee you will get pregnant and have a baby after cancer treatment.

This section of the website looks at each fertility preservation option in more detail.

A summary table comparing the different fertility options can be seen on this page.