Awareness, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Specialists on Preserving Reproductive Health in Children with Cancer: Barriers and Suggestions

Preserving Fertility in Children with Cancer

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the awareness, knowledge, attitude, and current practices of pediatric hematology oncology specialists about protecting reproductive health that can be offered to children diagnosed with cancer; to identify the obstacles they encounter in this regard and to make suggestions for the current situation.
Methods: From January 15, 2022, to June 15, 2022, we conducted a cross-sectional survey involving 23 participants recruited via social media who completed electronic surveys.
Results: The majority (78.26%) of participating physicians were female. Most of the participants (95.65%) worked in a metropolitan area. Nearly all (95.65%) of the physicians reported discussing long-term fertility issues with the family of a newly diagnosed cancer patient, with 82.60% always or routinely and 17.39% sometimes recommending fertility preservation methods. The main issues reported in applying fertility-preservation methods were: urgency of treatment (78.26%), financial difficulties and insurance barriers for patients (60.86%), absence of institutional or national standards (60.86%), physicians’ inadequate knowledge of surgical methods applicable to pre-adolescent patients (39.13%), and high physician workload (21.73%).
Conclusion: Although 86.95% of surveyed pediatric oncologists agreed to refer all adolescent males to a reproductive health specialist prior to cancer treatment, only 47.82% reported implementing this practice. Only 43.47% of physicians followed the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2006 guidelines for preserving fertility in patients with cancer. Identifying barriers in this regard is expected to improve future efforts to preserve reproductive health in our country.