International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Young cancer survivors have expressed frustration at the lack of information offered to them about the effects of treatment for the disease on their fertility and the options open to them to try and safeguard their ability to have a family.

A team from the University of California in the US spoke to 22 female 18 to 34-year-olds who had beaten the illness.

The researchers found many women wished they or their parents had been warned about potential problems with having children in the future.

They also said they would have liked to have been talked to about freezing their eggs to make it easier to start a family later on.

However, they admitted facing these issues would have been overwhelming when they were first diagnosed.

Lead author Jessica Gorman and her colleagues stated: "These young women would benefit from improved information regarding their options through discussions initiated by their healthcare providers."

These findings, which were published in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship, come after those of a team at the University of Missouri's Sinclair School of Nursing in the US, who reported mindfulness-based stress reduction training is helpful for alleviating depression among breast cancer survivors.

Posted by Martine Ward