Young women are being advised to freeze their ovaries if being treated for cancer, a leading gynaecologist has said as five London boroughs begin offering the treatment courtesy of the NHS
Consultant and senior lecturer at University College London in women’s health, Paul Hardiman, said women should ‘strongly consider’ the procedure to protect their future fertility and chances of having children.
The process is now available in boroughs such as Islington and is said to be a revolutionary move to preserve a women’s fertility if she has cancer treatment at a young age.
Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy can severely harm fertility, but this procedure will mean that ovaries will be frozen and stored at minus 196 degrees until the woman is ready to start a family.
The news was recently reported in the Islington Tribune with Mr Hardiman stating that the procedure is already carried out in Oxford and Edinburgh but this is the first time it has been available via the NHS in London.
He said: “In this country, there are many women and girls who get cancer who are not told about the potential impact on their fertility. A recent study showed 50 per cent did not know about this. Naturally, the main concern is to save a patient’s life – but a few years down the line this could be very important to the patient.”
He said that the process had a 45 per cent chance of working, compared to 4.5 per cent when considering conventional egg freezing.
Have you had cancer treatment and offered the chance to freeze an ovary? Get in touch, click here
