{"id":2237,"date":"2018-10-17T13:02:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T17:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/?page_id=2237"},"modified":"2022-08-19T15:26:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T19:26:49","slug":"patients","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>What is fertility?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fertility<\/strong> is the ability to produce biological children.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Infertility<\/strong> is the loss of the ability to produce biological children.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subfertility<\/strong> is when fertility is reduced, but not lost entirely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Is my child at risk for infertility?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Children who need medical or surgical treatment for their disease may have injury to eggs, sperm, or other parts of the reproductive system because of treatment.<\/li>\n<li>Not all children who have surgery or need medical treatment will have injury to their eggs, sperm, or reproductive system.<\/li>\n<li>In some cases, this damage is temporary, and the reproductive system may heal over time. If so, the ability to produce children may return.<\/li>\n<li>In some cases, the damage to the reproductive system is permanent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Children who have the following medical conditions may be at risk for infertility or subfertility:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Endocrine<\/strong> &#8211; Some endocrine diagnoses and treatments can impact future fertility. Diagnosis such as hypopituitarism, ovarian failure, and testicular failure may require treatment with estrogen or testosterone. Fertility can be impacted due to the disease, or in some cases, the treatment. In these cases, there may an opportunity to help preserve your child\u2019s fertility. If your child is seeing a pediatric endocrinologist, please ask if your child\u2019s diagnosis may impact their fertility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gender Diversity<\/strong> \u2013 Medications used to help stop the development of puberty or to help with gender affirming physical development may impact fertility. The exact impact is currently poorly understood. It is important to understand how gender-affirming hormone therapy may impact fertility. If your child is undergoing gender-affirming treatment, you may consider discussing fertility preservation options with one of our experts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Genetics and Metabolism<\/strong> \u2013 Some genetic conditions and inborn errors of metabolism may result in future fertility impairments including sterility. Please discuss your child\u2019s diagnosis with your physician to determine if fertility is at risk.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hematology\/Oncology \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Oncology<\/strong>: Cancer and cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and some surgeries, may affect your child\u2019s fertility. The specific types of chemotherapy, the location of radiation therapy, and the type of surgery are all important in determining the risk of infertility. Please ask your child\u2019s oncologist about these risks and about options for fertility preservation prior to starting cancer treatment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sickle Cell Disease (SSD)<\/strong>: SSD can result in infertility. If your child has SSD, talk with your hematologist about how this disease can impact fertility and if your child is at risk. Please ask your doctor if your child should be referred to a\u00a0 specialist or contact us directly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Urology<\/strong> \u2013 Some urology diagnoses such as ambiguous genitalia or testicular cancer, may affect your child\u2019s ability to have children and may require fertility preservation. If your child is being seen for a urology condition, please ask your pediatric urologist if your child is at risk of infertility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rheumatology<\/strong> \u2013 Patients with chronic rheumatic or autoimmune diseases may be at risk of infertility. Sometimes the disease can impact fertility, and sometimes the medications used to treat autoimmune conditions can impact fertility. Please ask the pediatric rheumatologist about your child\u2019s risk of fertility problems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nephrology<\/strong> (Kidney) \u2013 Kidney disease can impact multiple organ systems. Medications needed to treat some kidney diseases can affect future fertility. Please ask your pediatric nephrologist if your child\u2019s disease or treatment may impact their ability to have children in the future.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gynecology<\/strong> \u2013 Some gynecological conditions, such as ovarian torsion or failure, may impact your child\u2019s ability to have children. If your child is being evaluated by gynecology be sure to ask if your child is at risk of fertility problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livestrong.org\/search?keywords=risk+calculator&amp;form_build_id=form--w8Hw3li-DVKTnY1GF9h3wnikgWQ4uSd3YIIvss8COM&amp;form_id=search_block_form\">Livestrong Fertility<\/a> website includes many helpful resources, including a fertility risk calculator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is fertility? Fertility is the ability to produce biological children. Infertility is the loss of the ability to produce biological children. Subfertility is when fertility is reduced, but not lost entirely. Is my child at risk for infertility? Children who need medical or surgical treatment for their disease may have injury to eggs, sperm, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Patients\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11932,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-2237","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Patients - UNC Fertility Preservation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patients - UNC Fertility Preservation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is fertility? 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Children who need medical or surgical treatment for their disease may have injury to eggs, sperm, &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UNC Fertility Preservation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-19T19:26:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/\",\"name\":\"Patients - UNC Fertility Preservation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-17T17:02:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-19T19:26:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Patients\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/\",\"name\":\"UNC Fertility Preservation\",\"description\":\" \",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Patients - UNC Fertility Preservation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/fertilitypreservation\/patients\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Patients - UNC Fertility Preservation","og_description":"What is fertility? 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