Are There Effects of Cancer Treatment on Male Fertility?

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Medical Video: Restoring Male Fertility after Cancer Treatment

Fertility or fertility is a person's ability to have offspring. Apparently this has become one of the problems in cancer treatment. Just as the effects of cancer treatment on female fertility, some types of cancer treatment methods in men can provide a risk of infertility and difficulty in obtaining offspring. That is why cancer sufferers and their families need to consider the methods of treatment that will be undertaken. Especially if you are or will soon be working on offspring. Come on, see further how cancer treatment reduces male fertility and what options are available for patients.

How does cancer treatment reduce male fertility?

Although it cannot cure it completely, cancer treatment is very useful to improve quality while extending the life of patients. Unfortunately, there are side effects of cancer treatment on the fertility of prospective fathers. The effects of cancer treatment on male reproductive health occur in two main ways. Here's the full explanation.

Organ damage

Damage to male reproductive organs can be damaged or disturbed. This is because of an interference with the endocrine glands and other related organs. In men, several methods of cancer treatment have the risk of damaging the reproductive hormone glands which play an important role in maintaining fertility.

Because of these hormonal disorders, body organs such as the testis, thyroid gland, and adrenal gland do not function properly. As a result, you have a smaller chance of having children.

Changes in the brain

The effect of cancer treatment can also cause changes in certain parts of the brain so that interference occurs in the work of the endocrine system.

The disorder triggers fertility problems such as sperm damage and a decrease in the body's ability to produce sperm. As a result a man can experience decreased sperm production or even not produce it at all, either temporarily or permanently. In addition, a disruption of the ejaculation process may also occur which prevents men from getting offspring.

However, it is not only cancer treatment that affects the condition and quality of sperm cells. Some types of cancer can reduce fertility before patients receive cancer treatment. Cases of lymphoma Hodgkin and testicular cancer can significantly reduce sperm quality and number.

Effects of various cancer treatments on male fertility

There are six methods of cancer treatment in men, each of which has its own impact on fertility. However, keep in mind that even though cancer treatment reduces male fertility, you should still undergo treatment that has been recommended by a doctor according to your physical condition.

Because the side effects of cancer treatment on fertility are no more severe than the side effects of cancer in your life as a whole.

risk factors for prostate cancer

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses the most common treatment methods and has various types of drugs with varying agent substances. This causes the effect of chemotherapy on male fertility is more difficult to predict.

Chemotherapy basically works by turning off cells in the body that divide rapidly. Because sperm cells are cells that divide rapidly, they can easily be targeted and damaged by chemotherapy. In addition, a decrease in fertility or even infertility can be caused because chemotherapy drugs have attacked cells in the testes and caused the testicles to not produce sperm cells anymore.

Infertility is also more likely to occur in individuals over the age of 40 because cell recovery is more difficult and tends to be imperfect. The risk of infetility also depends on the pattern of treatment where high doses increase the risk of fertility disorders and longer cell recovery processes.

Some types of chemotherapy drugs that are at high risk of causing fertility disorders include:

  • Cytarabine
  • Ifosfamide
  • Lomustine
  • Melphalan
  • Nitrogen mustard (mechlorethamine)
  • Procarbazine
  • Actinomycin D
  • Busulfan
  • Carboplatin
  • Carmustine
  • Chlorambucil
  • Cisplatin
  • Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)

While low-risk chemotherapy drugs cause fertility disorders, namely:

  • 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)
  • 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP)
  • Bleomycin
  • Cytarabine (Cytosar)
  • Dacarbazine
  • Daunorubicin (Daunomycin)
  • Doxorubicin (Adriamycin)
  • Epirubicin
  • Etoposide (VP-16)
  • Fludarabine
  • Methotrexate
  • Mitoxantrone
  • Thioguanine (6-TG)
  • Thiotepa
  • Vinblastine (Velban)
  • Vincristine (Oncovin)

Immunotherapy

It is a new treatment method and has a slightly different way of working and side effects. Nevertheless the use of immunotherapy methods as a cancer treatment reduces male fertility by interfering with sperm quality. This increases the risk of congenital defects and complications in infants.

Hormone therapy

This method is used to treat cancer by changing hormone secretion, especially in prostate cancer. Hormone therapy can directly reduce sperm production and also reduce libido and erectile disorders. Side effects of this therapy usually begin to improve when patients stop using hormone therapy drugs.

Stem Cell Transplantation (stem cell)

Stem cells or stem cellis a procedure usually performed before cancer patients undergo full-body radiation therapy or high-dose chemotherapy. In most cases, stem cells as a cancer treatment reduce fertility because the body is blocked from producing sperm permanently.

Radiation therapy

Basically radiation therapy is a type of treatment with high-energy light to kill cancer cells. If the light used in radiation therapy is directed at the testis or lower body adjacent to the area around the pelvis, the patient's fertility can be reduced.

In addition, radiation to the head can affect the hypothalamus and pitutari glands of the brain. Both glands play a role in the production of the hormones LH and FSH which act as signals for sperm production in the testosterone gland. Signal disturbances caused by radiation to the brain glands can interfere with the production process and you can also be infertile.

Surgery

The method of surgery or surgery is a cancer treatment with a greater chance of recovery. However, surgery to remove cancer cells in certain body organs can affect male fertility.

Surgery to remove the testis can reduce sperm count if one of the testicles is removed, and causes a man to be infertile when both testicles are removed.

Infertility can also occur when surgery aims to lift the entire prostate gland so that men no longer produce semen (which contains sperm). Disorders due to surgery around the prostate gland also risk damaging the nerves that make a man erect so men can experience erectile disorders.

In addition, surgery to treat cancer in the bladder organs, prostate, urethra and large intestine also risks causing obstacles in the process of discharge of semen. This is known as the retrograde ejaculation condition which causes semen released during ejaculation to not pass through the penis normally and enter the bladder. Although it tends to be harmless, this condition greatly disrupts a man's fertility.

Are There Effects of Cancer Treatment on Male Fertility?
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