Testicular cancer patients can become fathers

Over 71 percent of men are able to achieve fatherhood after treatment for testicular cancer. However, the type of treatment has a strong impact on the paternity rate. Researchers from the Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway conducted a study of 554 long-term survivors of testicular cancer who attempted to become fathers following treatment. They divided the subjects into groups based on the treatment they were given after surgery: surveillance, removal of lymph nodes, radiation, low-dose chemotherapy, and high-dose chemotherapy. As noted, the overall 15-year post-treatment paternity rate was 71 percent. The highest paternity rate, 92 percent, was in the surveillance group, while the lowest rate, 48 percent, was in the high-dose chemotherapy group. The average time from diagnosis to the birth of the first child was 6.6 years, but once again the specific time depended largely on the treatment received. Overall, 22 percent of couples, who attempted conception after treatment used some form of assisted reproductive technology. With recent advances in assisted fertility techniques, more testicular cancer survivors may be helped to father children. This data should help doctors in counselling testicular cancer patients for whom fertility is a major concern. However, it is impossible to predict with complete certainty which men will be fertile following treatment, so pre-treatment sperm preservation should be offered to all patients.