Fertility Preservation Options for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Individuals

To provide clinicians with a standardized educational tool to effectively counsel transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) patients on fertility preservation and to support informed consent before interventions that may affect future fertility.

After performing a literature search, we wrote a detailed script outlining fertility-preservation options and considerations for TGD communities. Our script was reviewed by subject-matter experts in reproductive endocrinology and TGD care. We then created an educational video using an online platform (https://youtu.be/YD26yCOtehs). This video can be shown to patients as a standardized patient-counseling tool and can be used by health care professionals who wish to improve their own counseling efforts.

We provide a monthly clinic for all TGD patients interested in pursuing gender-affirming surgery at our institution. This video is available for all patients presenting to this clinic who wish to learn more about fertility-preservation options. In addition to playing this video, we have a reproductive endocrinology fellow who participates in these clinics and serves as a resource for patients interested in discussing options.

Fertility-preservation counseling for TGD patients is a vital component of informed consent for some gender-affirming surgeries. A commonly cited barrier to the delivery of quality counseling and patient-centered care is a lack of clinician education. Patients who endorse receiving inadequate information on fertility preservation report higher rates of decisional regret and psychological distress. Our video provides a comprehensive overview of fertility-preservation options available for TGD patients.