[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2026\/06\/breast-cancer-fertility-options\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2026\/06\/breast-cancer-fertility-options\/","headline":"Fertility After Breast Cancer: What Are Your Options?","name":"Fertility After Breast Cancer: What Are Your Options?","description":"

Concerned about fertility after a breast cancer diagnosis? Uncover how treatments may affect fertility and preservation options for you and your family.<\/p>","datePublished":"2026-06-09","dateModified":"2026-06-09","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/hillman.upmc.com\/","name":"UPMC Hillman Cancer Center","url":"https:\/\/hillman.upmc.com\/","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/upmc-hillman-cancer-center\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-1424974083-e1781035280258.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-1424974083-e1781035280258.jpg","height":866,"width":2000},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2026\/06\/breast-cancer-fertility-options\/","about":["Breast Cancer","Health Topics A-Z","Pregnancy and Childbirth"],"wordCount":1516,"articleBody":"For women who want to get pregnant, a breast cancer diagnosis may come with added concerns. For example: Can I have children after breast cancer treatment? How can I protect my reproductive health after cancer?The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimated in 2025 that more than 367,000 women will get diagnosed with breast cancer.Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Over 14,000 breast cancer cases each year occur in women under the age of 40 \u2014 their reproductive years.Science has come a long way in helping people with cancer preserve their fertility. Fertility preservation can safeguard your reproductive health from illness, medical treatment, or aging. Read on for a review of fertility preservation options for young women \u2014 those who are premenopausal, or still get their menstrual cycle \u2014 with breast cancer.Cancer Treatment and FertilityBreast cancer treatment helps determine breast cancer survivorship. But chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery can damage reproductive tissue. This can make getting pregnant or carrying a baby to full term difficult.Chemo can cause sudden or early menopause. It can make you start menopause five to 20 years earlier than average. This can happen even if you regain your menstrual cycle after treatment.Fertility changes can return to normal when treatment ends. But they can also become permanent.Options Before Cancer TreatmentThose who are actively protecting their fertility can ask to see a fertility specialist or reproductive endocrinologist. These experts can help with onco-fertility counseling. They can go over how your treatment and cancer type affect your fertility preservation choices.There are many fertility preservation options you can consider before you begin chemo or other cancer treatments.CryopreservationYou can freeze and store healthy reproductive tissue for future use. This can include eggs, embryos, and ovarian tissue.Egg or embryo freezingEgg freezing is an option if you don’t have a partner or spouse. It’s also an option if you’re opposed to freezing embryos (fertilized eggs) for religious or ethical reasons. Other names for this process include egg banking, egg cryopreservation, and oocyte cryopreservation.Embryo freezing is an option if you have a partner or spouse or use a sperm donor. Other names for fertilizing eggs and forming embryos in a lab are embryo banking, embryo cryopreservation, or in vitro fertilization (IVF).Is egg or embryo freezing right for me?Egg and embryo freezing can take several weeks to complete. Your cancer doctor can advise you on whether you can wait to start cancer treatment. You’ll likely need hormone-stimulating medicine to produce as many eggs as possible.Most women with breast cancer have hormone-sensitive cancer. This means the hormones estrogen or progesterone fuel their cancer to grow and spread.It’s a subtype of cancer called hormone-receptor positive cancer. Another name for it is HR+ breast cancer.Doctors can’t say if taking hormone stimulants for tissue freezing is safe for everyone. But evidence to date doesn’t link fertility preservation with or without hormonal stimulation to an increase in breast cancer coming back or cancer death. Sometimes fertility specialists add in additional medications during ovarian stimulation to prevent estrogen levels from getting too high.Ovarian tissue freezingThis minimally invasive outpatient procedure involves a specialist removing egg-containing ovarian tissue. Other terms for this include ovarian tissue banking, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, and ovarian tissue freezing. It’s an option:Before or after puberty.If you can’t take hormone-stimulating medications needed for egg and embryo freezing.If you shouldn’t delay cancer treatment.After treatment, when you’re ready to get pregnant, the specialist thaws the frozen tissue. They then do another surgery to put it back in your body. When the tissue starts working, they can collect the eggs and fertilize them in the lab.In vitro maturation (IVM) of eggsIVM is an emerging fertility option that doesn’t involve hormonal injections. Instead, fertility specialists use a minor surgical procedure to collect immature eggs.The eggs mature in the lab with a culture using hormones. Fertilization occurs through a process called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The fertility specialist can then freeze the embryos for future use.Options During Cancer TreatmentIf you don’t have time to freeze your eggs, embryos, or ovarian tissue, other options can safeguard your reproductive health during cancer treatment.Ovarian shieldingYour fertility specialist may recommend ovarian shielding to protect your reproductive system from scatter radiation during radiation therapy. The technician will place a lead shield over your ovaries and reproductive system before each radiation dose.Ovarian suppression therapyOvarian suppression therapy may protect your ovaries and reduce the number of eggs damaged during chemotherapy. It involves injections of drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists. These keep your ovaries from working and producing estradiol.Estradiol is a type of estrogen. GnRH agonists may reduce the risk of primary ovarian insuffiency, or premature menopause, in females with breast cancer facing gonadotoxic treatments.You may need an aromatase inhibitor (AI) with ovarian suppression. This can further stop your body from producing estrogen.The ACS warns premenopausal women to never take an AI alone for breast cancer treatment. This can increase hormone levels.Fertility Concerns After TreatmentYou should continue onco-fertility counseling after treatment. This can help manage any fertility challenges.Hormone therapy and fertilityThose who have hormone-sensitive breast cancer may need hormone therapy. Another term for this is endocrine therapy.It’s a type of targeted therapy for breast cancer. It can also reduce the risk that the cancer will come back.Only one hormone therapy medication \u2014 tamoxifen \u2014 is safe for premenopausal women. It’s a type of selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that blocks estrogen, which tells cancer cells to grow and divide. You may need to take tamoxifen for five to 10 years after chemo and radiation therapy.Tamoxifen can affect your short- and long-term fertility and sexual health. It’s also unsafe to become pregnant while on hormone therapy because of birth defect risks.Pregnancy planning after breast cancer treatmentThe best time to get pregnant will depend on your breast cancer type and treatment. You may need to wait a certain amount of time after all your cancer treatment ends.Talk to your fertility specialist to plan your pregnancy after cancer treatment. They may advise waiting:Six months \u2014 This may reduce the risk of birth defects from eggs damaged by chemotherapy or other treatments.Two years \u2014 The risk of cancer coming back is often highest in the two years after treatment.Third-party reproductive servicesThird-party reproductive services are an option if you struggle with fertility after treatment. This enables you to have a child through donated eggs, sperm, or embryos. It can also enable family building through the use of a gestational carrier, if for some reason pregnancy is deemed unsafe or if you are unable to carry a pregnancy.Are Fertility Treatments Covered by Insurance After Cancer?Check with your insurance provider on what reproductive health services they cover. Insurers often follow state law for what they will or won’t cover. Currently, only 21 states and the District of Columbia have fertility preservation laws. Pennsylvania doesn\u2019t require insurance coverage for fertility preservation or IVF.It’s wise to do some financial planning before any fertility treatment begins.SourcesAmerican Cancer Society. Key Statistics for Breast Cancer. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/cancer\/types\/breast-cancer\/about\/how-common-is-breast-cancer.html\/ Cancer.org American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures: 2024-2025. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/content\/dam\/cancer-org\/research\/cancer-facts-and-statistics\/breast-cancer-facts-and-figures\/2024\/breast-cancer-facts-and-figures-2024.pdf\/ Cancer.orgJournal of American Medical Association Oncology. Relapse Rates and Disease-Specific Mortality Following Procedures for Fertility Preservation at Time of Breast Cancer Diagnosis. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC9412846\/ NIH.govAmerican Cancer Society. Preserving Your Fertility When You Have Cancer (Women). Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/cancer\/managing-cancer\/side-effects\/fertility\/preserving-fertility-in-women.html\/ Cancer.org National Cancer Institute. Female Fertility and Cancer Treatment. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/about-cancer\/treatment\/side-effects\/fertility-women\/ National Cancer Institute. BRCA Gene Changes: Cancer Risk and Genetic Testing. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/about-cancer\/causes-prevention\/genetics\/brca-fact-sheet#do-inherited-brca-changes-affect-cancer-treatment\/ Cancer.govAmerican Cancer Society. Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/cancer\/types\/breast-cancer\/treatment\/hormone-therapy-for-breast-cancer.html\/ Cancer.orgEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.nichd.nih.gov\/health\/topics\/infertility\/conditioninfo\/treatments\/art\/ NIH.gov Kaiser Family Foundation. Access to Fertility Care: Findings from the 2024 KFF Women\u2019s Health Survey. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.kff.org\/womens-health-policy\/issue-brief\/access-to-fertility-care-findings-from-the-2024-kff-womens-health-survey\/ KFF.orgASCO Updates Clinical Practice Guidelines on Fertility Preservation in People with Cancer. American Society of Clinical Oncology. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/www.asco.org\/about-asco\/press-center\/news-releases\/asco-updates-clinical-practice-guidelines-fertility-preservation\/ ASCO.org American Pregnancy Association. IVM: In Vitro Maturation. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/americanpregnancy.org\/getting-pregnant\/infertility\/ivm-in-vitro-maturation\/ AmericanPregnancy.orgJournal of Clinical Oncology. Fertility Preservation in People With Cancer: ASCO Guideline Update. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/ascopubs.org\/doi\/full\/10.1200\/JCO-24-02782\/ ASCOPubs.org Resolve: The National Infertility Association. Insurance Coverage by State. Accessed August 2025. https:\/\/resolve.org\/learn\/financial-resources\/insurance-coverage\/insurance-coverage-by-state\/ Resolve.org "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2026","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2026\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"06","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2026\/\/06\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Fertility After Breast Cancer: What Are Your Options?","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2026\/06\/breast-cancer-fertility-options\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]