Iranian Oncologists’ Attitude towards Fertility Preservation in a Sample Group

Background: recent advances in cancer treatment have resulted in an increased number of cancer survivors. fertility might be impaired by cancer itself or through gonadal damage as a consequence of radio-chemotherapy. damages to reproductive organs are seen in minimally upto 30% of cancer patients. the aim of the present study was evaluate the attitude of iranian oncologists toward fertility preservation. methods: thirty oncologists filled an author-designed questionnaire which included five multiple choice questions at mahak hospital, tehran in 2009. the data were collected and analyzed by spss 11.5 software. results: more than half of the oncologists believed that radio-chemotherapy has destructive effects on reproductive organs. this study showed that as high as 67% of the respondants believed fertility preservation should be offered to all patients at risk, but 40% of them insisted that the patients should bring up the topic themselves. only 46% of the oncologist knew about fertility preservation techniques. the greatest barriers for accepting fertility preservation by the parents of children undergoing cancer treatment were: lack of information (41%), hopelessness from treatment prognosis (33%), fear of delay in starting the treatment (15%) and the priority of child survival (11%). conclusion: the specific challenges of counseling are time pressure between diagnosis and start of treatment, little knowledge about fertility preservation both by treating oncologists and parents; therefore a team consisting of oncologists, infertility specialists and social workers is recommended in these settings.