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Fertility Preservation

Infertility is a distressing side effect of many cancer treatments. Freezing gametes (sperm or eggs) prior to the initiation of cancer therapy gives patients diagnosed with cancer the potential to have a child in the future. Too often, this service is not considered until the patient is well into cancer treatment and by then, it may be too late.

Here at the U-M Cancer Center, we not only want to cure cancer, we also want to provide patients with the healthiest future possible. That's why we teamed with professionals from the the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) laboratory to meet the unique reproductive needs of cancer patients.

The Fertility Preservation Program (FP), provides counseling and education services, as well as semen collection and storage for male patients; and oocyte (egg) stimulation, harvesting and storage services for female patients. The FP aims to address the information needs regarding procedural, custody, legal and financial issues, and will assist the patient through the cryopreservation process in an efficient manner allowing for minimal delays in cancer treatment.

The FP provides patients:

• counseling to discuss cancer-related infertility process
  
• the expertise of the U-M Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) laboratory
  
• physician specialists in reproductive endocrinology
  
• the assistance of the nurse counselor who will act as liaison between the ART laboratory and Cancer Center physicians ensuring timely processing of samples
  
• comprehensive educational materials for patients, partners and family members