Women's Health

Breast Cancer, Infertility, and Freezing Eggs

New advancements in egg freezing

Thanks to new ovulation stimulation technology, this no longer needs to be a concern. With the stimulation, the egg freezing procedure can be completed in two weeks. A recent study proves that with the procedure, women can freeze their eggs without any delay to treatment. Researchers at UC San Francisco studied a sample of 89 women with breast cancer to see how long it took to begin their treatment. Of the two-thirds of the study sample who chose to freeze their eggs (with ovulation stimulation), the average time to start treatment was 38 days. For the women who chose not to freeze their eggs, the average amount of time was 39 days. So, clearly the decision to freeze eggs doesn’t lead to any major delays in receiving treatment. And, importantly, both of these are well within the six-week window.

The delay for all women is likely due to the many tests and decisions that need to be worked through before beginning treatment. Since there is some necessary time between diagnosis and the start of treatment, worry over delay in starting treatment should not be the sole reason women feel that they cannot undergo the egg freezing procedure. This is excellent news for women of childbearing age who receive a cancer diagnosis.