[Preservation of fertility in case of sterilizing treatment]

The different options of fertility preservation must be approached with all patients before initiating any cancer therapy and physicians should refer each patient treated during their reproductive years to specialists in a specialized center that will evaluate the best available alternatives to preserve male and female fertility.The only efficiently proven ways of fertility preservation are sperm cryopreservation for men and embryo cryopreservation to preserve couple fertility. However, the recent progress observed with oocyte cryopreservation (in particular the oocyte vitrification) may change our practices in the future if vitrification is allowed in France. Although the law of Bioethics of 2004 authorizes the ovarian cryopreservation today, its modalities of use stay at present at the stage of the research. But in spite of the low number of published births today in France and in the world, the ovarian tissue cryopreservation is a promising technique. It remains the last possible alternative to protect fertility of prepubertal girls. The sperm cryopreservation must be systematically proposed to all men (even teenagers) undergoing a treatment for cancer potentially harmful for their fertility whatever their sperm quality. The testicular tissue cryopreservation is also a method to be discussed for adults, teenagers in case of failure of sperm banking or for prepubertal boys.