Abstract
Women who have a high-risk family history of breast or ovarian cancer or carry deleterious genetic mutations develop these malignancies at a higher rate and younger age than the general population. Prophylactic interventions—including tamoxifen use and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy—can reduce the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer but are undertaken during reproductive years and may compromise young patients’ ability to have children. Thus, these young women—called “previvors”—face difficult decisions regarding the balance between preventive treatment and future childbearing and breastfeeding. Oncofertility may particularly benefit this group of women, by allowing them to take a proactive approach that integrates cancer prevention and fertility preservation concerns. In this chapter, we discuss when the issue of fertility might be raised during a high-risk consultation. We also present two case examples illustrating the importance of discussing fertility preservation with patients at high risk for developing breast or ovarian cancer.
Keywords
- Ovarian Cancer
- Lynch Syndrome
- Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis
- BRCA Mutation Carrier
- Fertility Preservation
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Oncofertility Consortium NIH 5UL1DE019587 and the Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproduction and Infertility Research NIH U54HD076188.
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Llarena, N.C., Jeruss, J.S. (2014). Fertility Communication and High-Risk Patients. In: Woodruff, T., Clayman, M., Waimey, K. (eds) Oncofertility Communication. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8235-2_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8235-2_5
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