Couples with cancer need to preserve sperms, eggs: Experts

There is a need to create awareness about sperm, egg and embryo preservation among young cancer patients who are about to undergo chemotherapy, said Dr Manish Banker, an IVF expert, at a press conference held in the city.

He said, for the preservation to work, two important factors needed to be considered – longevity and age of the patient.

“The efforts to preserve fertility can be done either for medical reasons or for social reasons,” said Dr Banker. He said it is not necessary that following cancer treatment, every individual would suffer from fertility issues.

“But the important thing is to discuss it with doctors and to go for fertility preservation techniques if the treatment will have an impact on fertility.”

He said sperms, eggs and even embryos can be frozen. “Before a patient undergoes chemotherapy, they can get their eggs or sperms frozen with us. We can also create an embryo and freeze it and the patient, at a later stage, can choose to be a parent with the help of this frozen embryo,” said Dr Banker.

He said the cost for freezing sperm is just Rs 1,000 while it costs around Rs 2.5 lakh for eggs and embryos.

“For cancer patients, it works best if they are suffering from a form of cancer where survival or longevity is not in question,” said Dr Banker.

He said despite the availability of facilities, the awareness among cancer patients about fertility preservation is quite low. “On an average, we get a case every three months,” said Dr Banker.

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