Male cancer survivors less likely to reproduce

via examiner.com

Source: University of Bergen | Summary: Young male cancer survivors are three times as likely to turn to assisted fertilization to have children as males without a cancer diagnosis. This knowledge makes it possible to develop concrete treatment protocols, which affect fertility to a lesser degree, say authors of a new report.

"Young male cancer survivors are three times as likely to turn to assisted fertilization to have children as males without a cancer diagnosis. This knowledge makes it possible to develop concrete treatment protocols, which affect fertility to a lesser degree. Measures like preserving sperm before starting treatment can be optimised. Close to 80 per cent of those diagnosed during childhood or adolescence will survive their cancer.

According to a Norwegian study of male cancer patients diagnosed under the age of 25, many male cancer patients have problems reproducing. The researchers hope this new knowledge may contribute to changing future treatment of male cancer patients.

A study of all Norwegian men born between 1965 and 1985 shows that male cancer survivors are less likely to have children than those without a cancer diagnosis.

"These finds are important for male cancer survivors, seeing as we can identify groups at risk of having reproduction problems," says Maria Winther Gunnes, PhD candidate at the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Bergen (UiB) and lead author of a recently published article in the British Journal of Cancer..."


Read the rest of the article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160216090854.htm