Twenty-four women who were under 40 at diagnosis with early-stage breast cancer participated in three focus groups. Seven of them had attended specialist fertility services. The researchers found that fertility was a significant issue for many of them. "Many of them had concerns about the implications on breast cancer survival of fertility preservation, changes to treatment to improve fertility, and also pregnancy after breast cancer," says Dr. Armstrong. "They were also concerned that egg harvesting might carry risks to their survival. We found that many of them were getting conflicting advice from health professionals, and this led to increased anxiety and confusion."

The small number of women who had attended specialist fertility services were better informed of their options and of the potential risks of fertility-preserving treatment, and this appeared to be a positive experience which helped them to cope better with the issues, the researchers say. They are now planning to undertake a larger study of both patients and health professionals based on a questionnaire to explore the issues more fully.

"We hope that this will enable us to understand patients' needs better and enable us to develop services which will meet those needs effectively," says Dr. Armstrong. "At a time when breast cancer treatments are improving and allowing more women to live normal lives, it is only right that we should also be helping them, where possible, to take control of their fertility, and informing them about the opportunities to have children should they so desire."

Christie NHS Foundation Trust