According to the statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, women’s breast and ovarian cancer are both on the list of top 10 cancer death rates in 2020.
Patients after receiving cancer therapy may cause temporary or permanent ovarian damage, and even affect fertility.
More and more women who get cancer at childbearing age (around 30 years old) save their fertility through “freezing egg”.
Fertility can be controlled by yourself after losing everything due to cancer
A 36-year-old Miss Wu was found to have breast cancer a year before last. The doctor suggested that she should undergo resection surgery immediately and undergo chemical therapy after the operation. The kind nurse reminded her to freeze eggs before therapy. After contracting cancer Miss Wu felt that she lost everything. She lost her breast in the surgery and lost her hair in chemical therapy. Freezing eggs can preserve healthy eggs which was the only thing that she could grasp.
She googled stork fertility center in Hsinchu and took action immediately. Doctor planned the Random-start Ovarian Stimulation protocol which doesn't need to cooperate with the menstrual cycle. During the ovum pick-up (OPU) treatment she only got 1 Long-term and 2-3 short-term ovulation stimulating injection. Also, she took oral medication for breast cancer every day so that she didn’t need to worry about the effect of ovulation stimulation. Eventually, she retrieved 47 eggs without any side effects. Miss Wu said, “After retrieving eggs the follow-chemical therapy seems more relieved because I don’t need to worry about losing eggs and fertility”.
Technology of freezing egg prepare the fertility for patients with cancer
Dr. Li from Stork11 Fertility Center points out that some of the chemotherapy drugs will cause hormone imbalance which leads to temporary or permanent menopause or inability to ovulate. Certain cancers, such as cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, lymphoma, etc. will result in ovarian damage and affect fertility. Fortunately, the technology of freezing eggs is well-developed nowadays. Freezing eggs before chemotherapy won’t delay the process of cancer therapy but also preserve fertility for the future.
Freezing egg be completed within 12 days before chemical therapy
Dr.Li once treated a 33-year-old female office worker who has breast cancer. She visited Stork11 for further information about freezing eggs immediately after receiving breast cancer surgery since she may need further chemotherapy. The first visit to Stork11 was on her 3rd day of the menstrual cycle so she took the blood test of AMH. The AMH value of the blood draw was 9.22, and she decided to start the treatment directly.
Dr.Li chose the non-ultrasound treatment with long-term ovulation stimulating injection which avoided the pain of daily injection. Dr.Li only tracked her estrogen(E2) value once during the middle of OPU treatment to evaluate the number of eggs and add another 4 short-term ovulation stimulating injections. The OPU surgery was done on the 14th day of her menstrual cycle. Finally, 30 eggs were frozen with neither any discomfort nor the ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).
Ovarian function is irreversible Women should trace AMH value regularly
Dr. Li emphasized that the treatment of OPU is all personally designed. Whether the retrieval of eggs goes well or not mainly depends on the AMH value of the AMH. Even though you don’t have any health problems, you should check your AMH regularly. It should be on the list of physical check-ups every year for females.
AMH level will affect the time of menopause, moreover, the function of the ovarian is irreversible. You can only slow down the decline in egg inventory by regular normal work and rest, proper exercise, and a healthy diet. If you find out your AMH level is low, you can also prepare your birth plan in the future as soon as possible.
News source: NOW健康/Taipei report
Further information about freezing eggs before chemical treatment: Visit Anticancer Website or add LINE for real person reply.
