A pilot study led by Professor Géraldine Delbès, from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Laval, focuses on the effects of chemotherapy on male fertility. The team analyzed the consequences of treatments conducted before and after puberty.

According to some scholars, chemotherapy has little influence on male fertility, if conducted in the prepubertal age. Up to a certain age, in fact, the testicles are dormant and do not produce sperm. The study in question belies this belief: chemotherapy influences the way in which cells divide, with immediate and long-term effects.

Professor Delbès studied the fertility of 13 patients, all undergoing chemotherapy as children. He compared the data with that of healthy volunteers and boys undergoing treatment after the onset of puberty. In addition, it also took into account the type of drugs used for the treatments.

From what has emerged, the effects of treatments on fertility do not depend on the patient's age. Chemotherapy reduces the quantity and quality of sperm produced in adulthood, even if it was conducted before puberty. There is no time when the testicles are immune to the negative effects of therapy. Anthracyclines appear to be the drugs that damage the sperm most, causing damage to DNA even years after the treatments.

Chemotherapy is often the only treatment available, which makes it almost inevitable in many cases. Understanding the actual consequences on the physique of young people, however, can help prevent and treat any cases of infertility.

Source: inrs.ca