A new solution to preserve women's fertility

The cancer treatments reach the tumor cells but not only … Of course, the side effects of chemotherapy are well known. Possible loss of hair, loss of appetite, weight loss and vomiting … But most alarming is that these heavy treatments for patients increase the risk of infertility. As much for men as for women, it is a risk that alert many patients but also the medical profession. Because the figures for people with cancer and undergoing heavy treatment are clear enough to shed light on the issues: 17,200 people of childbearing age are diagnosed with cancer each year.

On the side of men, the solution is already found and known by many patients: it is advisable to collect and freeze the sperm. For women, it's not such a small business … Dr. Michael Grynberg explains to Figaro : "Chemotherapy is toxic to the ovaries, destroying the stock of ovarian follicles, which can lead to early menopause. As for radiotherapy, if it targets the bads, it can alter the uterus and make it unfit to accommodate an embryo." Even with cancer, women do not suffer the same things as men. Information that inevitably causes a warning cry for women with cancer. They have to face the confrontation of a heavy treatment and, in addition, the risk of not being able to have children one day.

A technique has therefore been set up in the Strasbourg University Hospitals. It is not yet widespread and much practiced. But it could well become popular and open to more patients under chemotherapy as the demand is strong. For the moment, it seems in any case open to "specific cases". The solution turns out to be the autograft of ovarian tissue. Practiced in only 10 hospitals in France, doctors take a piece of each ovary, cut and freeze them before the patient begins treatment. After being rescued in its long process of cancer recovery, these ovarian fragments are reimplanted. It is therefore to open the ovary in two to introduce fragments threaded on a wire. After that, the organ is sewn. And even for patients who have been menopausal after treatment, it is possible. After the procedure, the rules come back and the reproductive system is like new. As if no treatment had weakened the fertility of the woman.

But it's a practice that does not seem to guarantee 100% the happiness of being able to get pregnant. Dr. Grynberg adds: "It's a little pretentious to say that we are preserving fertility," says Dr. Pirrello, "There's a huge step between ovarian tissue transplantation and a baby." It is in any case a glimmer of hope not to be neglected for women with cancer.

To see also:

Finally a real beauty guide for women with cancer

Breast Cancer: Why sleep in complete darkness can change everything

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