InfertilityReview of the Different Treatments and Management for Prostate Cancer and Fertility
Section snippets
Evidence Acquisition
A review of the literature since 1987 to 2014 was made. Bibliographical research was carried out on PubMed database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/). The research was limited to French or English articles. Keywords were prostate cancer, infertility, prostatectomy, brachytherapy, and radiotherapy. The research on “prostate cancer and infertility,” “prostatectomy and infertility,” “brachytherapy and infertility,” “radiotherapy and infertility,” and “focal therapy and infertility” found
Fertility and Total Prostatectomy
After radical prostatectomy, the options for patients are restricted to assisted procreation techniques which are used for men with irreversible bilateral obstruction of the vas deferens. The only option for paternity is these assisted reproductive techniques, based on deferential epididymal or testicular sperm extraction, if a cryopreservation of sperm was not made before prostatectomy.3
One case of pregnancy obtained with cryopreservation of sperm had been reported 10 months after total
Conclusion
In the era of prostate-specific antigen screening, some of the patients diagnosed with prostate cancer will still want to maintain their reproductive abilities. In this review, we found that all the management options for prostate cancer were harmful for men's fertility, except for active surveillance. Brachytherapy seems to be less harmful than external radiotherapy and prostatectomy. In addition, there are no robust studies yet assessing the effects of focal therapies on men's fertility (
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Cited by (18)
Testicular Dysfunction Among Cancer Survivors
2022, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Cumulative doses of fractionated radiotherapy more than 250 cGy generally result in prolonged and likely permanent azoospermia. The effects of brachytherapy given as treatment of prostate cancer, with irradiation doses received by the testes usually being less than 20 cGY, seems to be less harmful to fertility than external radiotherapy31. Gonadotoxicity caused by chemotherapy is due to the fact that it targets rapidly proliferating cells.
Iatrogenic effects of radical cancer surgery on male fertility
2021, Fertility and SterilityCitation Excerpt :Forty percent of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer and 25% of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer are under the age of 64 years (5). One major side effect of standard radical prostatectomy and cystoprostatectomy on fertility is obstructive azoospermia which occurs during transection of the vasa deferentia and removal of the seminal vesicles (6). Presurgical sperm banking provides a reliable option.
Reproductive Complications
2019, Abeloff’s Clinical OncologyUnlocking the mystery associated with infertility and prostate cancer: an update
2023, Medical Oncology
Financial Disclosure: The authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.