Fertility Preservation Often Overlooked In Women's Cancer Care, Review Finds

When a young woman is diagnosed with cancer, one of her biggest worries may be whether she will be able to have children someday. Cancer treatments can damage the body's ability to reproduce, but doctors can take steps to protect that ability before treatment begins. A new review of research studies found that many young female cancer patients are not being offered these protective steps, called fertility preservation. The review was published in the journal Cancer in June 2026.

Fertility preservation, or FP, means saving eggs, embryos, or ovarian tissue so a person can have children later in life. The American Cancer Society says that cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation can harm a woman's reproductive system. Because of this, doctors are supposed to talk with young female patients about FP options before starting treatment. However, the new review found that this conversation often does not happen.

Researchers looked at 25 different studies to see how often young women with cancer were offered FP. They found that in 14 of those 18 key studies, fewer than half of female patients went through with fertility preservation — and in some cases, fewer than 1 in 100 did. Young men with cancer were offered fertility preservation at more than twice the rate of young women. This gap was a major concern for the researchers.

The review was led by Melissa Beauchemin, an assistant professor at Columbia University School of Nursing. Her team found that not all women had equal access to fertility preservation care. Black women, Hispanic women, and women from lower-income areas were less likely to receive FP services or even to have a conversation with their doctor about it. The researchers called this an example of a bigger problem of unfairness in health care.

Age also played a role in who received fertility preservation care. Younger women were more likely to be offered FP than older women, even if those older women were still of reproductive age. The researchers pointed out that older women might still want to have children, especially if they have never had a baby or recently found a partner. Leaving them out of the conversation is a missed opportunity, the team said.

Every year in the United States, more than 85,000 people between the ages of 15 and 39 are diagnosed with cancer. Medical guidelines from 2006 already state that fertility preservation is an important part of cancer care. Yet the new review shows that nearly 20 years later, many patients are still not getting the care those guidelines recommend. Researchers hope their findings will push doctors and hospitals to do better for all patients.