Oncofertilità : dove siamo?

An update about oncofertility. Over the last years we are experiencing an increased incidence of cancer in young population. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy often result in reduced fertility in these patients. With increasing survival rates, fertility is becoming an important quality-of-life concern for young cancer patients. They may be interested in parenthood, but the number of patients who access fertility preservation techniques before treatment is low. There is a need for improvements in clinical care to ensure patients about infertility risks and fertility preservation options and to support them in their reproductive decision-making before cancer treatment. Nowadays, many opportunities exist for fertility preservation. Sperm cryopreservation is a well-established method in male. In female, there are several strategies such as ovarian suppression with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, in vitro maturation or in vitro fertilization after ovulation induction. Recently, developed ovarian stimulation protocols using tamoxifen and letrozole have been applied to increase the margin of safety in breast cancer patients. This review is focused on the effect of cancer treatments on fertility and on the assisted-reproduction innovations devoted to the cancer survivors.