Purpose@#This study aimed to investigate and analyze the current
fertility-related practices for
breast cancer patients; the results are intended to help improve the
quality of life of young
patients and
survivors. @*
Methods@#This study collected voluntary responses to a
questionnaire that was used to
survey Korean
breast cancer specialists. The
questionnaire consisted of five categories
knowledge, practice
behaviors regarding
fertility preservation, barriers to discussing
fertility preservation,
attitude toward
fertility issues, and demographics and medical background. @*Results@#A total of 120 copies of the
questionnaire were distributed; the response rate was 89%. The section of the
questionnaire regarding
knowledge indicated that most
respondents had adequate
fertility preservation knowledge for
cancer patients. However, 13.1% of the
respondents indicated that they
thought pregnancy increased the
cancer recurrence risk.
Respondents’
knowledge and
attitudes about
fertility preservation were not correlated with actual practice. The absence of
patient’s expressions (24.30%), high
recurrence risk (27.10%), insufficient
time in the clinic (21.50%), and
hospital conditions such as no reproductive
specialists or
infertility clinic (16.82%), were considered major barriers to discussing
fertility issues. @*Conclusion@#Although more than 50% of the
respondents thought that
cancer treatment is more important than
fertility preservation and it is complex and difficult, the Korean
breast surgical
oncologists were generally encouraging when discussing
fertility issues with young
breast cancer patients. Hence,
breast clinicians should share with young
patients the updated evidence regarding the feasibility and
safety of
pregnancy after
cancer treatment and the available options so that the best decisions can be made.