Reproductive Health: from Diagnosis through Survivorship – Resources and Perspectives from the Children’s Oncology Group (C221)

Embarrassment about the topic may prevent patients and parents from initiating conversations regarding pubertal and sexual health issues. Provider discomfort with the topic may also impact discussions regarding fertility preservation or sexual health before, during, and after treatment. This session will review the Children’s Oncology Group’s (COG) efforts focused on reproductive health. The COG Supportive Care Endorsed Guidelines for fertility preservation for patients with cancer will be discussed, highlighting the responsibilities of the oncology team, including nursing. Sexual health recommendations (e.g., sexual dysfunction screening, human papillomavirus vaccination) for cancer survivors delineated by the COG Long-Term Follow-Up Guidelines will also be presented along with published data from COG and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study on treatment agents that confer a high risk of infertility. Finally, the COG Adolescent and Young Adult Sexual Health Task Force priorities will be presented. Throughout the session, the sexual health needs of patients as they mature will be reviewed and strategies for supporting developmentally appropriate reproductive and sexual health conversations will be presented. Attention will be focused on providing the attendees with tools to initiate conversations regarding safe sex, sexual behaviors during and after treatment, sexual dysfunction concerns, and human papillomavirus vaccination. Attendees will be given time to reflect and identify one strategy to support reproductive and sexual health that would be feasible to implement in their institution.