PARENTAL AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS FERTILITY PRESERVATION IN FEMALE PEDIATRIC CANCER PATIENTS
Abstract
Aim. The study aimed to assess parental knowledge and attitudes towards fertility preservation. Materials and methods. In Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, 22 parents of childhood cancer patients and 51 parents of healthy gynecology clinic patients completed a questionnaire about fertility preservation. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics. Results. Parents of childhood cancer patients had better knowledge of the 5-year survival rate (90.9 % vs. 37.3 %, p < 0.001) and the impact of radiotherapy on fertility (72.7 % vs. 43.1 %, p=0.024) compared with parents of healthy girls. Assessing the general knowledge, the median score of parents of childhood cancer patients was 4 of 13 (1–11), compared with the control group, 3 of 13 (0–10), p = 0.046. Only 23.8 % of parents of childhood cancer patients would prefer fertility preservation methods before cancer treatment compared with the control group (52 %, p = 0.037). Conclusion. The knowledge of fertility preservation is minimal. Inadequate education may affect attitudes on fertility preservation methods.