Should insurance companies cover the expenses of fertility preservation when a young cancer patient is at risk of losing their fertility as a result of their treatment? This is what members of the Michigan delegation asked the American Medical Association (AMA) to support by lobbying for federal legislation that would require insurers to cover fertility preservation when cancer treatments could result in infertility. As a result of their efforts, the resolution was adopted.

The new AMA policy states two points: 1) Support payment for fertility preservation, and 2) lobby for appropriate federal legislation requiring payment for oncofertility. This new policy would treat infertility as a medical condition, or a treatment-related adverse side effect. In other words, the patient is not “choosing” to undergo in vitro fertilization, the cancer and/or its treatment make that decision for them if biological parenthood is at stake.

There’s a new “toy” in the surgical wing at the UC Irvine Medical Center that’s causing surgical oncologists to perform 56% less duplicate breast cancer surgeries.  It’s called MarginProbe, and it detects whether surgeons have removed all of a woman’s breast cancer cells during surgery, reducing the necessity of a second operation.  This sterile, handheld device sends electromagnetic signals to the bodily tissues surrounding a surgical incision, which are then transmitted and analyzed to determine whether any unhealthy tissue remains in the breast.