Fertility Issues among Young Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review

Background & aim: fertility issues after cancer have recently received great attention. This study was designed with the aim of highlighting the impacts of breast cancer treatment on fertility. Methods: This study is a narrative review. Textbooks and electronic databases including ProQuest, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, and MEDLINE were comprehensively searched for scientific literature. The search strategy was based on these keywords "Fertility", "Childbearing", "Breast Cancer Survivorship", "Reproductive Issues". A total of 270 titles and abstracts were recognized through searching. After removing duplicate studies, studies with patients of younger than the reproductive age, and articles with stereotyped results, 30 articles met the specific inclusion criteria of this study. The articles were screened with regard to their titles and types. The abstracts which best fitted the inclusion criteria - which was Medical or biological consequences, premenopausal women or subjects younger than 50 years- were checked for eligibility, and then their full texts were read. To guarantee the consistency of the retrieved information, the data were separately extracted from each study by all the authors, and then standardized tables were provided and discussed. Results: long-term fertility dysfunctions happen in most patients under cancer treatment, breast cancer survivors of the reproductive age suffered greater distress over cancer-related infertility. Conclusion: Consultation methods to obtain informations about the risk of treatment on fertility and ways to maintain fertility, should be presented early in the treatment.