A new study is concerned about the progress that remains to be made in France to preserve the fertility of young cancer patients. They can undergo treatments that will make them sterile.
Preserving the fertility of young cancer patients is the challenge that French researchers have taken on to help these patients who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments that can make them sterile. Myriam Daudin and Louis Bujan, two Toulouse scientists, believe that progress remains to be made in France on this subject.
Provide precise information
“The question of fertility is very important for the future life of adolescents and young adults who have just been diagnosed with cancer,” they recall in a study published in Fertility and Sterility, of which they are the two main signatories.
These researchers at the Paule-de-Viguier University Hospital in Toulouse think that it would be necessary, as the law requires, “to inform young patients in a precise manner on how to store their gametes (eggs or spermatozoa). It is “psychologically important because of the positive perspective that it offers”, underline these doctors. As such, they note a still significant deficit in training and information in this area. “Efforts must be made, for example, for better training of nursing staff. “
Progress noted in the CECOS
Despite this appeal to health professionals, the two researchers remain optimistic because the practice tends to improve. Their study reviews the sperm deposits made in France by adolescents and young adults with cancer between 1973 and 2007. They were carried out in the 23 Centers for the Study and Conservation of Eggs and Sperm (Cecos), which are the only authorized ones. in France to receive and store sperm and ova for self-preservation or donation.
As a result, they have multiplied. A total of 4,345 adolescent or young adult men, aged 11 to 20 years with cancer patients consulted in Cecos with a view to preserving their fertility. For 3,616 of them, this consultation resulted in the freezing of their sperm.
This shows that sperm storage is “possible in adolescents and young adults.” But it should be harmonized, better organized at the national level and also promote this practice ”, conclude these researchers.
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