Cancer has over the years been a significant threat to children. Unfortunately, the numbers of children diagnosed with cancer continue to rise each day. Fortunately, due to advancements in the health sector, best treatment practices that facilitate many cancer survivors have been established. Chemotherapy, radiology, and surgery are among the common treatments for cancer. However, despite these treatments being so effective and successful, they also have side effects. Some of these side effects are usually short-term, whereas others are long-term. For example, short-term side effects include loss of hair that occurs due to chemotherapy. Long-term causes are less known to many and include late effects, which describe the inability of a person, either male or female, to have biological children.
Reproductive problems depend on certain types of cancer treatment that were employed. Chemo and radiology are known to have severe side effects on a child’s fertility. These side effects are not experienced immediately after the treatment but later on in a person’s adulthood. Infertility, otherwise known as reproductive problems or alterations, occur when a particular type of hormone untypically rises or reduces to normal levels. Furthermore, when a specific reproductive organ is removed, may be due to cancer, the patient is at a high risk of acquiring reproductive problems.
Preventive practices should be employed during and after treatment to avoid such cases. These include efforts to restore or preserve fertility in children fertility in children with cancer. Pediatric oncofertility and Cryopreservation are primary treatment practices employed to protect fertility in children with cancer. Pediatric oncofertility is a treatment procedure that involves measures to preserve the fertility of children after they have undergone cancer treatment and therapies, for instance, chemo and radiology. It is commonly used in male cancer patients. On the other hand, Cryopreservation involves freezing eggs or embryos before chemo to preserve the fertility of female cancer patients. Choosing a specialist who best understands these two types of fertility preservation treatments is essential for the effectiveness of these two types of fertility preservation treatments.
Another option for preserving fertility in children with cancer is discussing the risk of alterations and fertility preservation with doctors. Before cancer treatment is decided, doctors, specialists, and guardians should first have a detailed conversation about the type of treatment to be used and the risk facing their children’s fertility. Children who are subject to these kinds of treatments should also be made aware of their fertility and how it can be preserved. All these should be addressed before commencing any method of cancer treatment.
Finally, experts should consider other treatments that have fewer damages on the fertility of patients. Cancer specialists should, for instance, treatments that ensure that reduced doses of chemo are taken. Reduced intake of chemo doses plays a significant role in preventing infertility in both young boys and girls. Oophoropexy can as well be used as an alternative to radiology. Oophoropexy is commonly applicable in female cancer patients and has fewer chances of causing infertility than radiology and chemotherapy.