# What is Fertility preservation before cancer treatment?

Source: https://oncologyistanbul.com/glossary/fertility-preservation

> Freezing eggs, sperm, or embryos before chemotherapy or radiotherapy begins, since these treatments can affect fertility.

Chemotherapy and pelvic or abdominal radiotherapy can reduce or eliminate fertility, so patients of reproductive age are often offered the option to preserve eggs, sperm, or embryos beforehand where timing allows. Whether it's realistic in a given case depends on cancer type, urgency, and how much delay to treatment start is safe — this is exactly the kind of question a tumor board addresses before, not after, treatment begins.

## Authoritative references
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_preservation)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5445580)

Full glossary: https://oncologyistanbul.com/glossary