Male Cancer Survivors Three Times As Likely To Suffer Infertility Compare To Women, Study Says

Male childhood cancer survivors have thrice the chances of suffering infertility compared to women who survive childhood cancer, a recent study said. The findings were published online on March 22 in Lancet Oncology.

The findings came from a research study that tracked 10,938 male and female childhood cancer survivors who were compared with their 3,949 siblings who don't have cancer. The researchers found that by the age of 45, 70 percent of the female cancer survivors had become pregnant, compared with the 80 percent of the siblings. As for the male cancer survivors, the figures revealed that 50 percent of the male cancer survivors became fathers, compared to 80 percent among their siblings.

"The main implication of this study is that it shows that boys and men remain at substantial risk of reduced fertility," lead author Dr. Eric Chow, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle said to Medscape Medical News. "Although girls and women appear to be more protected."

Dr. Chow and his colleagues used data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), which tracked children diagnosed with common types of childhood cancer between 1970 and 1999. These patients survived at least 5 years after diagnosis, according to the report of Medical Express.

The team examined the impact of 14 commonly used chemotherapy drugs on pregnancy and live birth. The findings revealed that men with significantly reduced likelihood of fertility were given high cumulative doses of alkylating substances such as agent cisplatin, procarbazine, cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide. While high doses of lomustine appeared to be directly linked to decreased fertility in women.

Dr. Chow said physicians should discuss fertility and fertility preservation options with cancer patients upfront before starting cancer treatment. Particularly, to boys who are diagnosed with cancer after puberty. He said they should be encouraged to bank their sperm, so they will have a good chance of becoming a father in the future.