National Physicians Cooperative Transforms Cancer Fertility Management

Published December 2018 | Future Oncology

Cancer can be a startling diagnosis, but with excellent care many pediatric patients and their families not only navigate treatment but also want to ensure that young cancer survivors maintain their options for having children of their own.

In recent decades, fertility management has become a nationally established part of cancer care with many patients being connected with an oncofertility specialist or offered fertility preservation soon after cancer diagnosis. This special report details the evolution since 2007 of the Oncofertility Consortium (OC) to address quality of life and fertility concerns of children and reproductive-aged adults diagnosed with cancer.

The OC developed a network of fertility preservation specialists and scientists that has grown to become the National Physicians Cooperative, which includes 83 institutions including Cincinnati Children’s. Meanwhile, a variety of resources have grown out of the OC, including ovarian tissue preservation protocols, the Save My Fertility phone app, research on pediatric and teen fertility, educational materials, a patient website for navigating fertility preservation, and a YouTube channel full of presentations and training materials.

“This work has been globally instrumental to all patients regardless of their age and sex, whose disease and treatments may impair fertility, for this provides an understanding of the fertility preservation techniques that can be offered, as well as an understanding of how to access research and care,” says Olivia Frias, MSN, RN, at Cincinnati Children’s who also co-chairs the 2019 Oncofertility Consortium Conference.

The Future Oncology report also includes co-author Tara Schafer-Kalkhoff, MA, a clinical research coordinator at Cincinnati Children’s.