Young breast cancer patients concerned with therapy's effect on fertility.

2004 NOV 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study shows that concern about infertility resulting from breast cancer therapy influenced treatment decisions in nearly one third of young patients.

The study, which appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that the majority of the women were very concerned about the ability to have a child as well as the impact that pregnancy might have on disease recurrence, despite the relative lack of data on these risks.

"These findings indicate that women may overestimate infertility risk, and highlight the need for enhanced communication between physicians and patients," said Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the study.

"A key challenge in discussing these issues is the lack of comprehensive data on how cancer therapy affects fertility, particularly when considering newer chemotherapy regimens, and whether getting pregnant after therapy affects the risk of disease recurrence," Partridge said.

Researchers surveyed 657 members of the Young Survival Coalition (YSC), a breast cancer patient advocacy group, on their attitudes about fertility. Members were required to be premenopausal and age 40 years or younger at the time of breast cancer diagnosis.

Fifty-seven ...