Fertility Concerns and Preservation for Men and Women

Cancer, or more often cancer treatments, can conflict with some parts of the reproductive process and affect cancer patients’ ability to have children. Various types of procedures can have various effects. During puberty, a boy’s testicles begin producing sperm, and they usually will continue doing so for the rest of his life. Cancer therapy throughout childhood, though, can hurt testicles and change their ability to create sperm.

How Chemotherapy Can Lowe Cancer Patients Sperm-Count

Chemotherapy works by destroying cells in the body that are dividing fast. Because sperm cells divide quickly, they are an easy target for damage by chemo. Continual sterility can result if all the young cells in the testicles that divide to create new spermatogonia stem cells are impaired to the point that they can no longer reproduce maturing sperm cells.

Women Are Less Likely To Get Information From Their Doctor Regarding This Subject

Studies have implied that women with cancer are less likely to be presented with information about protecting their fertility than men. Women who now have at least one child or those who are not married also are less likely to get information. If a patient is interested in having children in the future, they may need to start this conversation with their cancer team or doctor as soon as possible.

Most cancer survivors can still choose to become a parent if they wish. It might not happen the way they planned before cancer, but if they can set flexible goals, they’ll find that there are options out there. These include potential freezing of eggs, embryos, or pieces of the ovary, having sterility therapy after cancer, adopting, or taking a donated egg or embryo to have a child.

Various cancer treatments can influence a girl’s or a woman’s fertility. Most likely, their doctor will talk with patients about whether or not cancer treatment may raise the risk of, or cause, infertility. Nevertheless, not all doctors bring up this topic. Sometimes a patient, a family member, or parents of a child being treated for cancer may want to start this conversation.

Primary Ovarian Insufficiency

Chemotherapy can affect the ovaries, making them stop delivering eggs and estrogen. This is named primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). Sometimes POI is temporary and patients menstrual periods and fertility return after treatment. Other times, damage to the ovaries are long-lasting and fertility doesn’t return. Cancer patients may experience hot flashes, night sweats, irritability, vaginal dryness, and irregular or no menstrual periods. Chemotherapy can also lower the number of healthy eggs in the ovaries. Women who are closer to the age of regular menopause may have a higher risk of infertility. The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has more information about primary ovarian insufficiency.

Emotional Issues And Care For Fertility Problems

For some men, infertility can be one of the most challenging and aggravating long-term effects of cancer therapy. Even if it might feel strange to think about fertility right now, most people benefit from a talk with their doctor regarding how treatment may affect their fertility and learn on options to preserve their fertility.

Although most people want to have children at some point in their life, families can grow more connected in many ways. For extra help during this time, patients are encouraged to reach out to their health care team with issues or concerns, as well as to professionally led cancer support associations.

Tips For Maintaining Fertility

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) advises that all men with cancer present the risk of sterility and fertility protection alternatives with their doctors as soon as feasible prior to the beginning of cancer treatment. If patients are involved in maintaining fertility, they should ask for a referral to a reproductive specialist, even if they are uncertain if they aspire to have children in the future.

The alternatives depend on various circumstances:

• Patients’ age

• Patients’ physical and sexual maturity

• Patients’ relationship situation

• Patients’ outlooks about specific techniques 

Sperm Banking As An Option Of Fertility Preservation

This method means freezing and storing semen. This is best performed before therapy begins, as there is a greater risk of generative damage in the sperm taken once treatment has started. Men can use semen afterward. Possibilities cover intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

With IVF, a health professional obtains a woman’s eggs. The preserved sperm fertilizes the eggs in a laboratory. Then, the embryo is placed in the woman’s body to grow.

Sperm banking is a possibility for most post-pubescent men. A man may father a child even with just a few sperm cells. This is conceivable within a method termed intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). During ICSI, a sperm is injected right into an egg obtained during IVF.