FERTILITY PRESERVATION
Facts about fertility preservation options for both men and women — and know what's right for you.
Fertility preservation is the effort to help cancer patients retain their fertility, or ability to procreate. Research into how cancer affects reproductive health and preservation options are growing, sparked in part by the increase in the survival rate of cancer patients.
How does cancer treatment affect fertility?
Certain cancer treatments can harm the fertility or cause sterility. The effects might be temporary or permanent. The likelihood that cancer treatment will harm your fertility depends on the type and stage of cancer, cancer treatment, and your age at the time of treatment.
A “body system malfunction” can change a man's fertility and affect his ability to father a child. Here are some things that can happen:
- Hormone production can be disrupted
- Testicles may not make healthy sperm or any sperm at all/li>
- The process of sperm ejaculation can be disrupted
Most chemotherapy (chemo) drugs can damage a woman’s eggs, affecting her fertility. This depends on the woman’s age, the types of drugs she gets, and the drug doses, making it hard to predict if a woman is likely to be fertile after chemo.