If you have been diagnosed with cancer and hope to have children later, fertility preservation before treatment protects that option because chemotherapy and radiation can damage your eggs. It is time-critical and works best when arranged before treatment starts, usually adding only about two weeks to your timeline.
Book an Appointment with Dr karishma v dafle for fertility concerns
Fertility preservation, sometimes called oncofertility, means safely storing your eggs, embryos or ovarian tissue before cancer treatment so you can try for a biological child later. It bridges cancer care and reproductive medicine, and it is now a recognised part of comprehensive cancer care for younger patients. The three main options for women are summarised below.
Many cancer treatments are gonadotoxic, meaning they can harm the ovaries. Chemotherapy, especially the group known as alkylating agents, can destroy eggs and reduce your ovarian reserve (the number of eggs you have left), and radiation to the pelvic area can damage the ovaries and uterus. How much harm occurs depends on the specific drugs and doses, the radiation site, and your age and reserve before treatment, since younger women with a higher reserve tend to have more in hand afterwards. Because the damage is often permanent, the safest time to act is before treatment begins. If it helps to understand the starting point, our guide to egg age and ovarian reserve explains how reserve is measured.
Your ovaries are stimulated with hormone injections for about two weeks, mature eggs are collected under sedation in a short procedure, and the unfertilised eggs are frozen by vitrification (ultra-rapid freezing). It needs no partner or sperm, which makes it the usual choice for single women, and the eggs can be thawed and fertilised whenever you are ready. The egg freezing process, step by step, walks through each stage.
Here, the retrieved eggs are fertilised with sperm from a partner or a donor before freezing, creating embryos that are stored for future transfer. Embryo freezing has the longest track record and the most reliable success rates. It requires a sperm source and a decision about the embryos, so it suits couples or those comfortable using donor sperm.
A small piece of the ovary is removed, usually by keyhole surgery, and frozen for later re-implantation. Because it needs no ovarian stimulation, it can be done quickly when there is no time before treatment must start, and it is the only option for girls who have not reached puberty. Importantly, this is no longer an experimental technique: professional guidance reclassified it as an established option in 2019. Success rates are still modest, and it is offered at specialised centres, but it has led to healthy babies worldwide.
You no longer have to wait for a particular point in your cycle. Random-start protocols let stimulation begin on almost any day, so a full egg or embryo freezing cycle usually takes about two weeks from start to retrieval. For hormone-sensitive cancers such as many breast cancers, specialists use protocols with an aromatase inhibitor (a medicine that keeps estrogen low) to stimulate the ovaries more safely. Where pelvic radiation is planned, the ovaries can sometimes be surgically moved out of the radiation field (ovarian transposition). A medicine from the GnRH agonist class may be given during chemotherapy to rest the ovaries, but it is an add-on, not a replacement for freezing eggs or embryos.
Raise fertility with your oncologist as early as possible, ideally within the first few days, and ask for an urgent referral to a fertility specialist before treatment starts. Fertility preservation is not a distraction from cancer care; it is part of planning for life after treatment, and acting early keeps the most options open. If your team does not raise it, you are entitled to ask and to seek a prompt referral yourself.
The cost of preservation splits much like egg freezing: the procedure fee, the stimulation medication, and recurring storage charges. Rather than repeat figures here, see our breakdown of egg freezing costs in India for the current ranges, and confirm the exact quote with your centre. On insurance, be guided by your own policy. Most standard Indian health plans exclude fertility treatment, but preservation done for a medical reason such as cancer is more likely to attract partial cover than elective freezing, particularly under some corporate or women-specific plans. Storage charges are often excluded, cover usually needs pre-authorisation, and claims are generally only accepted from ART-registered clinics. Check the wording with your insurer and your HR team. There is no guarantee, and fertility treatment does not qualify for the Section 80D or 80DDB tax deductions that are sometimes wrongly cited online.
The window is short, so the guiding rule is simple: seek a fertility referral as soon as cancer is diagnosed and before the first chemotherapy or radiation session.
If you have just been diagnosed, you can book an urgent fertility consultation at a Cloudnine Fertility centre, which will coordinate quickly with your oncology team.
Preservation protects your options; it does not guarantee a future baby. Success still depends mainly on your age and ovarian reserve at the time of freezing, and on the number and quality of eggs, embryos or tissue stored. The table shows what each option preserves.
Must Read: Fertility problems in women who have diabetes
