According to new research led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, 25% of young breast cancer sufferers say that there was no discussion of fertility issues at the time of diagnosis, despite the possibility of infertility after treatment.
Belinda Thewes, a UNSW PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine, says timing is everything in these cases, and such women need more information when they are diagnosed, about the effect that treatment could have on their fertility, in order that they can take appropriate steps to preserve it.
The study says that breast cancer in women who are childless at diagnosis, is becoming more common, with 10,000 women diagnosed each year and 6 to 7 percent of those are under 40.
Thewes says that being diagnosed with a potentially life threatening illness is bad enough, but with younger people there are other factors which need to be considered.
Current treatments can affect a woman's fertility and this can be very distressing, especially for women who may not yet have children.
Ms Thewes, who was initially based at the Department of Medical Oncology at the Prince of Wales Hospital, says when she began her research it appeared there were no younger celebrities who were diagnosed with breast cancer.
But the media coverage of a trio of such as Kylie Minogue, with the disease, has raised awareness that young women do get breast cancer and that fertility may be an issue.
She says women can now consider options which include using IVF prior to chemotherapy and using more experimental techniques such as freezing the woman's ovary tissue.
So if a woman does become infertile after treatment she may choose from a number of options.
In the study 228 women who were 40 or younger, with a diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer, participated.