Priorities in Fertility Decisions for Reproductive-Aged Cancer Patients: Fertility Attitudes and Cancer Treatment Study.

Abstract

The Fertility Attitudes and Cancer Treatment Study (FACTS) aims at better understanding the reasons and priorities of young adult cancer patients making decisions for fertility preservation (FP). Identifying the factors that center around a patient's fertility decisions will support the development of educational tools for providers and improve clinical care to meet patients' reproductive needs. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted of 27 newly diagnosed male and female cancer patients who had presented for an oncofertility consultation. Interviews lasted ∼30 minutes and were transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was conducted to explore the factors driving decisions for future fertility. Themes were grouped to address the following topics: reasons for/against FP, patient priorities, informational needs, support, wellness, and satisfaction with information. Strength of the theme was determined by examining the frequency of a response. Patients who chose FP versus those who did not choose FP and men versus women proved to be more similar than different in their reasoning, priorities, and informational needs for FP decisions. Patients who chose FP identified a "concern for future fertility" as a top reason to do so and "parenthood" as a top priority. For those who did not choose FP, "cancer treatment" was identified as their top priority. For patients identifying financial barriers, 50% of them were able to overcome this to pursue FP. Reproductive-aged patients diagnosed with a new cancer should be referred to a reproductive specialist and provided the opportunity to come to a fertility decision on their own before initiating cancer treatment.