PT Health Life – Cancer and its treatment also affect the fertility of older men, so patients who still want to have children can think about sperm storage.
Any type of cancer can affect sperm production . People with testicular cancer often have lower fertility than before starting treatment, and treatment can reduce fertility further.
1. Cancer can cause male infertility
some types of cancer temporarily reduce men’s fertility. Infertility is most likely to occur before cancer treatment and immediately after treatment is completed. For those who will recover sperm production, semen analysis will usually improve within 1-3 years after cancer treatment ends. However, some men improve many years later. Therefore, men should use effective contraceptive methods and have safe sex even when there is a possibility of infertility.
Testicular cancer: Fertility may be poor for two years before testicular cancer is detected. Although only 1-3% of men with testicular cancer have cancer in both testicles, the testicle that does not have cancer may not function normally. On the other hand, men treated for testicular cancer often have improved semen quality within a few years. If you are still sexually active, it is important not to conceive during cancer treatment, because the DNA in sperm can be damaged during treatment and for some time afterward.
Newly diagnosed Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma or leukemia: Recent surgery, fever or physical stress experienced by those who have undergone treatment can affect semen quality.
2. How do cancer treatments affect fertility?
According to doctors at the Andrology Center (Viet Duc Hospital), chemotherapy is a very common form of cancer treatment. These drugs work to stop or slow the growth of cancer cells, but in the process they can also attack normal cells elsewhere in the body, including the cells. The tube that produces sperm in the testicles. This means that chemotherapy can temporarily or permanently kill developing sperm cells.
Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells in a specific area, while limiting damage to normal cells.
Radiation therapy for testicular cancer, or other cancers near the testicles, can damage the testicles, leading to permanent problems in sperm production.
Whole-body radiation therapy (used before a bone marrow transplant) and radiation to the brain can also reduce your fertility. This is because it affects the glands that produce hormones that act on the reproductive system.
Because radiation to the testicles can cause genetic damage during the early stages of sperm development, it’s best not to try to get pregnant for 6 to 12 months after radiation therapy.
Male fertility may be affected if surgery to remove a testicle (orchiectomy) is performed to treat testicular cancer.
Cancer in one testicle may not affect your chances of having children if the remaining testicle continues to make testosterone (male sex hormone) and sperm. Surgery in the pelvic area (such as for bladder cancer) can sometimes damage nerves in the area, which can cause erection and/or ejaculation problems.
3. Store sperm banks
Sperm banking is an effective fertility preservation method for men. It is a fairly easy and successful way for men who have gone through puberty to store sperm for future use. It is often given before cancer treatment to men who may want to have children in the future. By storing sperm, male cancer patients can decide this issue later.
In sperm banking, men provide one or more samples of their semen. Once the sperm bank has obtained the sample, they will test it to see how many sperm cells it contains (this is the sperm count), what percentage of the sperm are able to swim (called sperm motility). move) and what percentage has a normal shape (called morphology). The sperm cells are then frozen and stored.
A sperm sample can be provided by ejaculation, ejaculation, sperm retrieval and aspiration procedures, etc.
4. When should I start depositing my sperm?
You may have to decide to deposit your sperm quickly. If you are planning cancer treatment and want to preserve your fertility, talk to your doctor and fertility specialist as soon as possible. A fertility specialist can help you understand your options, answer questions, and act as your fertility advocate during treatment.
It is usually safe to collect a sperm sample during the first week of chemotherapy or radiation treatment. Chemotherapy and radiation can damage genetic material in developing sperm, but mature sperm are resistant to damage.
Semen can be frozen and stored long term for future use. If you want to father a child at a later stage, frozen semen is thawed and used in fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
To date, no problems have been detected in children born using frozen sperm collected before cancer treatment.
