Cincinnati Children’s Comprehensive Fertility Care and Preservation Program: Building global relationships
The Comprehensive Fertility Care and Preservation Program (CFCPP) at Cincinnati Children’s was honored to host guests from the Japan Society of Fertility Preservation (JSFP) in January. The JSFP is the leading oncofertility group in Japan and consists of over 35 medical institutions across the country. In recent years, the JSFP has identified the increased awareness of adolescent and young adult cancer patients with regards to fertility preservation.
The Cincinnati Children’s team met the JSFP at the annual Oncofertility Conference, which attracts over 200 members of the oncofertility community from around the world. The JSFP reached out to our program about the opportunity to shadow us as a way to gain educational experience and improve their fertility preservation program in Japan, specifically with a focus on pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients. We planned a robust three-day itinerary tailor-made for our guests, and they were able to meet with many members of our comprehensive and multidisciplinary program. Oncology, Urology, Gynecology, Research, Bioethics, Psychology, Child Life and Quality Improvement team members were all involved in this wonderfully collaborative experience.
Collaboration is an integral part of our Comprehensive Fertility Care and Preservation Program, and we’re delighted we can foster international connections with programs, networks and hospitals, in areas such as Japan and the United Arab Emirates. Lesley Breech, MD, director of Gynecology and member of the CFCPP, traveled to United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January to visit the different hospitals and meet with their clinical teams. The goal of this visit was to foster a relationship with these hospitals by working together to offer continuity of collaborative care and outreach to oncological and fertility preservation patients in UAE.
The goal of the Comprehensive Fertility Care and Preservation Program is to meet with patients whose medical condition or treatment regimens place them at risk for fertility complications, now or in the future. We offer education for patients and families about the fertility risks associated with their diagnosis and treatments, and we can help determine if fertility preservation is an option and support them in making a decision.
We offer fertility preservation methods for both males and females and are committed to increasing awareness about the risks to fertility and advances in the field of fertility preservation. Our aim is helping patients and families understand the risks, benefits, known success rates, and science behind each preservation option.
For males, we offer sperm banking, a standard of care method of fertility preservation in pubertal males. We also offer testicular tissue cryopreservation under an IRB-approved protocol for pre-pubertal males and those unable to undergo sperm banking. For females, we offer oocyte and embryo freezing for patients who have gone through puberty. Younger patients and those unable to undergo oocyte or embryo freezing may choose ovarian tissue cryopreservation, which is also available under an IRB-approved protocol. Ovarian transposition is also available for all age groups.
To learn more about fertility preservation, please click on our innovative video created in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati’s Live Well Collaborative: www.cincinnatichildrens.org/fertility.
-- Authors: Lesley Breech, MD, director of Gynecology, Karen Burns, MD, MS, co-director, CFCPP; Olivia Frias, MSN, RN, patient navigator CFCPP, Ashley Hayes, BA, program coordinator, CFCPP
