Cause of Infertility Can Be Chemo or Radiation for Colon Cancer Patients
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Chemotherapy can be a cause of infertility. Oncologists often fail to counsel patients about these side effects of chemotherapy and about fertility preservation. The Oncofertility Consortium, with 50 locations nationwide, aims to counsel and assist cancer patients about fertility preservation.
Fertility preservation for men and adolescent boys is usually achieved with a simple visit to a sperm bank. Research on sperm-forming stem cells in young boys is being done. Researchers hope to preserve their future ability to have children.
Preserving fertility in women is more time consuming and complex. Methods available for women and adolescent girls involve:
- Egg harvesting
- Egg freezing
- Embryo freezing
- Oophoropexy
Research is going on to create drugs to prevent ovulation during chemotherapy. There is also research to remove ovarian tissue for later transplant.
It is vital to take action before starting chemo or radiation if you want to have children in the future. Please note that few people are aware that these procedures can make you sterile. But it is a good idea to bank your sperm or freeze embryos so you can still have children once you recover from the treatment.
Doctors Forget to Ask
Oncologists often overlook fertility preservation when treating cancer patients. Estimates show that only 25% of U.S. patients receive counseling from oncologists on this cause of infertility before receiving chemotherapy. Typically, a friend or family member brings the issue up with a patient. And cancer patients are often too frightened to think about the future when facing chemotherapy.
Help is Available
However, good news is on the horizon. The National Institutes of Health is funding a program called the Oncofertility Consortium (www.myoncofertility.org). This organization assists cancer patients with fertility preservation. It is seeking new technologies to create better fertility options and help cancer patients get help with the options available today. The consortium has 50 locations throughout the U.S. to help cancer patients get the latest information and treatment options.
What are Your Options?
Male cancer patients only need to go to a sperm bank to prevent this cause of infertility. A semen sample will be obtained, frozen and stored. Frozen sperm remains viable for 28 years, sometimes longer. Fortunately for men, the process is simple and causes little to no delay in treatment. Testicular biopsies can isolate sperm to be stored even if you have no sperm to ejaculate.
Boys
For boys not yet in puberty, there is no current technology to preserve their fertility. However, research is being done to find out if freezing stem cells that form sperm can preserve their ability to have children in the future.
Women
Women face a greater challenge in preserving fertility. It takes about two weeks to coax the ovary into producing enough eggs to harvest. This can be an eternity in 'cancer time.' And freezing eggs is not as affective as freezing embryos.
An upcoming option for woman and young girls is an ovarian transplant. Doctors remove ovarian tissue, freeze it, and then transplant the tissue back after treatment. While doctors are developing methods to make this procedure more successful, four women have already given birth with this method.
Young girls are protected naturally, as their ovaries have not yet produced eggs. In the future, a gonadotropin-blocking drug may give women this protection. The drug stops ovaries from producing eggs and shrinks them to a prepubescent stage.
Adolescent Girls
Adolescent girls facing the prospect of pelvic radiation can undergo oophoropexy, where ovaries are temporarily moved outside of the radiation field. With this option, in vitro fertilization will be required when it is time to have children.
Additional Resources
- Treatments for Colon Cancer - This article provides an overview of the available treatments for colon cancer.
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- Palliative Chemotherapy - Palliative chemotherapy is a therapy not used to cure, but to prolong life and improve cancer symptoms. This type of chemo is used for patients whose cancer is terminal. Palliative chemotherapy can provide patients with increased physical comfort and help give...
- Cause of Infertility - For some patients chemo and radiation can be the cause of infertility. Research is going on to create drugs to prevent ovulation during chemotherapy. There is also...
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