Fertility and cancer

Cancer and its treatment may affect a person’s ability to conceive a child or maintain a pregnancy (fertility). The information in this section helps you understand how cancer treatment can effect fertility.

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What are reproduction and fertility?

Knowing how your body works may help you understand how fertility problems happen and why some people are unable to conceive.

Key questions

Find answers to common questions such as how cancer might affect fertility, how age affects fertility, when you can try to get pregnant after cancer treatment and more.

Making decisions

It’s best to talk about ways to preserve or protect your fertility before cancer treatment begins.

Treatment side effects and fertility

Cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, may affect fertility. This can be temporary or permanent.

Female options before cancer treatment

Learn different ways you can try to keep (preserve) your fertility before starting cancer treatment.

Female options after cancer treatment

Your chance of getting pregnant depends on your age, your cancer treatment, and whether it caused early menopause or affected your ovaries.

Male options before cancer treatment

Learn different ways you can try to keep (preserve) your fertility before starting cancer treatment.

Male options after cancer treatment

After cancer treatment, you may have your semen tested to assess how healthy the sperm look. You may be able to use your sperm or donated sperm.

Fertility in children and adolescents

If you’re diagnosed with cancer as a child or teenager, you might not have thought about having children yet — but many young people say that being able to have children in the future matters to them.

Other ways to be a parent

Learn about other paths to parenthood, including surrogacy, adoption and fostering.

Not having a child

Finding out you have not been able to preserve your fertility, or even if you have, can be emotional.

Emotional impact

It’s common to have a range of reactions to infertility. Learn more about the different reactions and ways to manage these.

Relationships and sexuality

Cancer, its treatment, and not knowing if you can have children can affect how you feel about yourself and your relationships.

Useful websites

These websites are good sources of support and information.

Questions for your doctorAsking your doctor questions will help you make an informed choice. You may want to include some of these questions in your own list.

Print these questions

Before cancer treatment

Will cancer or its treatment affect my fertility? Will this be temporary or permanent?
Will any delay while I preserve my fertility affect the success of the cancer treatment?
How long do I have to make a decision?
Can you refer me to a fertility specialist? Are there ways to protect my fertility before treatment starts?
What are the pros and cons of each fertility option?
What are the chances of success of each fertility option?
What are the risks and possible side effects of each fertility treatment?
Which fertility option should I avoid and why?
Are there any out-of-pocket expenses not covered by Medicare or my private health cover? Can the cost be reduced if I can’t afford it?
Do I need to pay up-front before treatment begins?
How can I find a counsellor or psychologist?

After cancer treatment

What options do I have after treatment?
I want to try and get pregnant? When can I start trying?
When should I have tests to check my fertility?

Questions for reflection

Thinking about your answers to these questions may help you make decisions about fertility.

Has cancer changed my life goals, including having a child?
If I decide not to have a child, what has led me to this decision? Are there benefits to not having a child?
If I have a child, is it important that it is biologically related to me?
What does my partner think?
Which fertility option appeals to me and why?

If you want to become a parent, add to your family or even if you’ve not yet thought about having children, this information explains the ways in which you can preserve your fertility before and during treatment.

We cannot give advice about the best ways to preserve fertility. You need to discuss this with your doctors.

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This information was last updated in October 2022. See who reviewed this content.

Prof Martha Hickey, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne and Director, Gynaecology Research Centre, The Royal Women’s Hospital, VIC; Dr Sally Baron-Hay, Medical Oncologist, Royal North Shore Hospital and Northern Cancer Institute, NSW; Anita Cox, Cancer Nurse Specialist and Youth Cancer Clinical Nurse Consultant, Gold Coast University Hospital, QLD; Kate Cox, McGrath Breast Health Nurse Consultant, Gawler/ Barossa Region, SA; Jade Harkin, Consumer; A/Prof Yasmin Jayasinghe, Director Oncofertility Program, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Chair, Australian New Zealand Consortium in Paediatric and Adolescent Oncofertility, Senior Research Fellow, The Royal Women’s Hospital and The University Of Melbourne, VIC; Melissa Jones, Nurse Consultant, Youth Cancer Service SA/NT, Royal Adelaide Hospital, SA; Dr Shanna Logan, Clinical Psychologist, The Hummingbird Centre, Newcastle West, NSW; Stephen Page, Family Law Accredited Specialist and Director, Page Provan, QLD; Dr Michelle Peate, Program Leader, Psychosocial Health and Wellbeing Research (emPoWeR) Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Royal Women’s Hospital and The University of Melbourne, VIC; Pampa Ray, Consumer; Prof Jane Ussher, Chair, Women’s Health Psychology, and Chief Investigator, Out with Cancer study, Western Sydney University, NSW; Prof Beverley Vollenhoven AM, Carl Wood Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University and Director, Gynaecology and Research, Women’s and Newborn, Monash Health and Monash IVF, VIC; Lesley Woods, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council WA.

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