Oncofertility: A New Medical Discipline and the Emerging Scholar

Cancer is often considered a disease of aging, and many times it is, as the risk of malignancy increases with age. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, 77% of all cancers are diagnosed in patients older than age 55 [1]. However, it is not a disease isolated to the older population alone. Any person can develop cancer; it targets children and young adults, and it does not discriminate by gender, race, socioeconomic status, political belief, or religious affiliation. Data collected from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) registry of cancer patients estimated that there were 10,500,000 survivors of cancer in 2003 and roughly 1,440,000 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2007 (see Fig. 16.1). Among survivors, 5% are between 20 and 39 years old, resulting in at least 525,000 young survivors of cancer, a number that increases every year. More than 200,000 men and women under the age of 45 are diagnosed with cancer annually. Moreover, 25% of breast cancer patients are younger than 40 years of age. Though over 12,400 children and adolescents (less than 19 years old) are diagnosed with cancer each year, the cure rate for all childhood cancers has reached 80 % [2]. While this is a remarkable statistic, the improvement in survival reflects progress in earlier detection of certain malignancies and the extraordinary rise in cancer curing therapies.