Baby After Cancer Is a Reality as Shady Grove Fertility Provides Successful Treatment for Cancer Survivors

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) July 11, 2014

On Tuesday, July 9, Eric D. Levens, M.D. from Shady Grove Fertility's Annandale, VA office joined CBS affiliate WUSA's Andrea Roane on the monthly segment Buddy Check 9 to educate the audience about the number of ways Shady Grove Fertility reproductive endocrinologists work with oncologists to make motherhood possible for women after they undergo cancer treatment.

Shady Grove Fertility and oncologists treat patients in the developing field known as oncofertility which Dr. Levens explained is "the inter-relationship between the cancer doctor and the endocrinologist." As Dr. Levens told Andrea, the options for most women to have children post-treatment must begin before the cancer treatment. Dr. Levens said, "Cancer treatment can affect fertility in many ways. One of theprincipal ways is that chemotherapy reduces the ovarian potential, destroys the eggs and the support cells." With oncologists and endocrinologists working together from the start many women can preserve a woman's eggs, receive the necessary treatment, and then carry their own child.

Recognizing that cost is a factor Shady Grove Fertility supports oncofertility patients when dealing with insurance companies and works alongside national and local advocacy groups to promote awareness of the success that occurs with early detection, discussion, and treatment.

For example, as one of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine's (ASRM) delegates to the American Medical Association (AMA) Dr. Levens advocated for the 2013 resolution by the AMA to express support for insurance coverage for oncofertility. In their statement, the AMA urged insurance companies to provide more coverage for fertility preservation writing, "New AMA policy supports coverage by all insurance providers of fertility preservation therapies for patients requiring cancer treatments that may result in infertility. Approximately 70,000 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 39 will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and fertility preservation therapy should be an essential part of the management of their cancer."

Shady Grove Fertility patients have also benefited from nonprofit organizations like Livestrong's Fertile Hope whose goal is to reduce the cost of embryo and egg freezing in a variety of ways including working directly with drug companies to donate the medication required to stimulate the ovaries and get the body ready for treatment.

Concluding his chat with WUSA, Dr. Levens had a clear message for women: "The future is very bright but the conversation has to start early. Awareness is the key to future success."

Learn more about cancer and fertility programs at Shady Grove Fertility: http://www.shadygrovefertility.com/content/cancer-and-fertility.

Read more about Dr. Levens's work with the ASRM to urge the AMA to support insurance coverage for cancer patients seeking fertility treatment: http://blog.shadygrovefertility.com/2013/06/27/new-fertility-options-hope-for-cancer-patients/.

To see Dr. Levens's complete interview with Andrea Roane: http://www.wusa9.com/videos/news/health/buddy-check/2014/07/09/12397407/.

About Shady Grove Fertility:Shady Grove Fertility is America's largest and most progressive fertility center performing over 6,000 IVF cycles, including over 1,000 egg donation cycles, and an equal number of ovulation induction and IUI cycles annually. Twenty-eight reproductive endocrinologists as well as PhD scientists, geneticists and 480 highly specialized staff care for patients in 17 full-service offices and 4 satellite locations throughout the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC metropolitan areas. SGF offers a comprehensive range of fertility treatment options including Ovulation Induction, IUI, IVF, and Donor Egg as well as resources to comprehensively address patients' needs - medical, emotional, and financial. For patient convenience IVF retrievals and transfers are now performed at three regional IVF Centers in Rockville, MD, Baltimore, MD and Chesterbrook, PA.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/07/prweb12010375.htm