Infertility, the inability to have children, should be a concern to men and women of childbearing age undergoing treatment for their cancer.   Treatments like chemotherapy, radiation and surgery can all impact your fertility.

Chemotherapy, while extremely effective at treating cancer, can cause damage to the germ cells, the egg and sperm cells, in your body.  Not all chemotherapies will cause infertility.  The type, dose and length of treatment play a role in factoring the damage done to germ cells.  Radiation is another type of treatment that can cause infertility in men and women.  Radiation to the pelvic region of the body can cause cellular damage while radiation to the head and neck can cause the body to stop hormone production that is necessary for reproduction.  Cancer-related surgeries that occur in the reproductive organs of the body also have the potential to affect your fertility. 

For more information and to watch animations about this, visit:

http://www.myoncofertility.org/animations/what_normal_female_fertility_and_how_it_affected_cancer_treatment

http://www.myoncofertility.org/animations/what_normal_male_fertility_and_how_it_affected_cancer_treatment

The good news is that there are plenty of options out there to preserve fertility.  You need an individualized consultation to determine the best and most mature technology available for your unique circumstances in order to make an informed decision.  The Oncofertility Consortium can help guide you through that process and put you in touch with the right centers to help you navigate through cancer and fertility treatments.

A recent article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology used research from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) to facilitate research on long-term survivors of cancer diagnosed in childhood and adolescence.   Specifically, the authors retrospectively looked at the fertility of male survivors of childhood cancer and the results are astonishing.

With a relatively large sample size (n=6,224) for cancer survivors and comparing it to the survivor’s male siblings (n=1,292), the authors were able to gain an insight into the long-term effects of cancer and cancer treatments.  Compared with the siblings, survivors were approximately half as likely to sire a pregnancy.  In the treatment models, prior radiation therapy to the testes (>7.5 Gy), high doses of alkylating chemotherapy agents, treatment with procarbazine, or high doses of cyclophosphamide were the major factors that decreased the chances of a cancer survivor successfully siring a pregnancy.

This study simply demonstrates that the fertility of male childhood cancer survivors is impaired.  We can intervene with quick sperm banking for most of these patients to prevent the heartache that can go along with infertility later in life.  For those patients who aren’t able to bank sperm, testicular tissue cryopreservation always remains an open option.

Click here to view the full article online.

The Oncofertility Consortium is going to be participating in two amazing, outdoor charity fundraisers and we’d love for you to come too! 

 The Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute is the official charity of the Magellan Development Chicago Spring Half Marathon and 10K this year on May 16^th!  You can participate by signing up to race, creating or joining a fundraising team or even through Event Donor Packages.  Learn more from this link:

http://www.braintumorinstitute.org/halfmarathon/register_online.cfm

 The Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern having its 17^th Annual Cancer Survivor’s Celebration and Walk on June 6^th.  This walk is a tribute to cancer survivors and the strides made in cancer treatment and research.  Anyone whose life has been touched by cancer is invited to walk, volunteer or come by to support the walkers! Find out more about this event by clicking this link:

http://www.cancer.northwestern.edu/public/programs_events/events/2010/06/walk/index.cfm

 Today, young adult survivors of cancer and other diseases are looking forward to a future of long term survival due to improved treatments.  Many of those treatments are made possible by great fundraisers like these.  If you’ve got the time, please consider participating with us at these events!