Fertility Preservation (Cancer Patients)

Infertility is the inability of a couple to conceive even after a year of trying to get pregnant through unprotected and well-timed sexual intercourse in which the woman is under the age of 35. If the woman is above 35, it is diagnosed after six months of trying to get pregnant. Infertility can be due to male or female factors or even both. It can also be due to unexplained reasons.

Yes, age does affect a woman’s ability to have children. More and more women now prefer to wait until their 30s to conceive. A woman’s fertility starts to reduce from her 30s and more after the age of 35. As much as one-third of couples who face fertility problems are those where the woman’s age is above 35.

Here are a few ways of how a woman’s ability conceive reduces due to her age: 

• The ability of ovaries to release eggs ready for fertilization reduces with age
• The quality of eggs released reduces with an increase in the age of women
• An increase in age can lead to more health problems which may interfere with a woman’s fertility
• The risk of miscarriages increases as a woman ages
• Children born to older women tend to have more abnormalities

Women who are healthy and below the age of 30 need not worry about infertility unless they have been trying to get pregnant for a year or so. If such is the case, they should talk to their doctor for a fertility evaluation. They should also ask their partners to do the same. 

Women in their 30s trying to get pregnant should talk to their doctor after trying for 6 months as a woman’s chances of having a baby decline rapidly after the age of 30.

No, infertility can affect both men and women. About one-third of cases of infertility are due to female factors and another one third are due to male factors. The remaining cases are either due to a mixture of both male and female factors or due to unknown reasons.

In most cases, male infertility can be treated. Your doctor may suggest you use assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as IVF, ICSI, TESA and Micro-TESE. Although ART cannot cure or treat the causes of infertility, it can help couples achieve pregnancy even when the male’s sperm count is low or zero.

There are several external factors, lifestyle choices, and environmental causes that can lead to infertility. Although some risk factors can be gender-specific, some common risk factors are: 

• Age
• Smoking
• Alcohol Consumption
• Substance Abuse
• Obesity and Underweight 
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases 
• Diabetes 
• Tubal Disease
• Stress
• Genetic Causes

There are many ways to treat infertility for both men and women. With advancing medical technologies, you and your partner along with your doctor can decide depending on the options available.

The most common reason for infertility in women is problems with ovulation. No ovulation or improper ovulation can prevent eggs from fertilizing or there may be no eggs at all. Irregular periods or no periods are a sign of no or improper ovulation. Some other causes of infertility include: 

• Endometriosis
• PCOD/PCOS
• Uterine Fibroids 
• Blocked Fallopian Tubes
• Physical problems with the uterus 
• Pelvic Inflammatory Disease 
• Several Miscarriages 
• Unexplained Reasons

Infertility in men can be due to the following: 

• Low or no sperm production
• Low motility of sperms- sperms inability to move fast or reach the egg to fertilize it
• Abnormal shape/structure of sperms that prevent it from fertilizing the egg
• Erectile Dysfunction or Retrograde Ejaculation

Sometimes, men may be born with these problems, and the other times, they may develop these problems due to an illness or injury.