Cancer and Fertility Risks for Men
Becoming parents is one of the precious feelings every couple wants to experience. But in today’s fast paced life and with various health issues it has become difficult for them to conceive. Whenever a couple face complications in conception, fertility of the male along with the female partner plays a major role. Male infertility is caused by various factors, one of them is cancer.
Magna Centre is a renowned medical centre in India. This centre located in Hyderabad provides various medical facilities including skilled male infertility doctors. By taking insight from a qualified and experienced male infertility doctor in Hyderabad at this centre, we have prepared a useful guide on cancer and fertility risk for Men. Therefore, readers and male infertility sufferers are advised to go through the article carefully.
Male Infertility
Male infertility is a medical condition with some males due to which they become incapable of fertilising their partner’s ovum. Infertility of a male partner is rooted in various factors. Some of them are as follows:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Hormonal Change
- Poor healthy diet
- Excessive heat around testicals
- Injury to male reproductive organ
- Medical conditions like thyroid and cancer
Male infertility caused by stress, anxiety or factors supported by unhealthy lifestyle are possible to reverse through making changes in the daily routine. But medical conditions, especially cancer requires involvement of a qualified male infertility doctor.
Relation between Cancer and Male Fertility
Cancer is a disease in which unwanted and abnormal cells start growing in any part of the body. Such composition of harmful cells usually termed as cancerous tumours are painful. Cancer makes the body weak hence the cancer patient gradually becomes incapable of doing the daily routine. Caused by cancer, male reproductive organs are unable to produce and release quality sperm.
Causes of Cancer in Male
Some common causes of cancer in males are as follows:-
- Smoke
- Alcohol
- Steroids
- Stress
- Excessive use of plastic
Due to the above mentioned and many other factors cancer can develop and affect the male’s reproductive system.
Type of Cancer Causing Male Infertility
Testical play a crucial part of male reproductive system that works to produce sperms. The growth of cancerous cells in testicals affect the performance of testicals, as a result infertility occurs. In addition to testicular cancer, and prostate cancer, Hodgkin, Lymphoma are two diseases causing male infertility.
Cancer Treatments Causing Male Infertility
Cancer is treatable. One with the help of cancer treatments can regain life. But these treatments may impact one's fertility, chemotherapy is one of them.
- Alkylating Chemotherapy
Alkylating Chemotherapy commonly known as chemotherapy is an advanced non-invasive cancer treatment. In this treatment cancer removal medicines are used to inject in the body through veins. Depending upon the type of cancer different types of chemotherapies are performed. Some of them are as follows:
- Intravenously (IV) – injected into a vein.
- Intrathecally (IT) – injected into the spinal canal during a lumbar puncture.
- Intramuscular (IM) – injected into a muscle.
- Intraperitoneal (IP) - injected into the abdominal cavity.
The group receiving alkylating chemotherapy causes the greatest harm to fertility. It can affect testosterone levels, which are essential for male fertility, and result in the loss or destruction of germ cells.
- Radiation Therapy
The production of sperm cells may be inhibited or stopped by radiation therapy if the testicle is located in or close to the radiation target area. The testicles can be partially shielded, but full protection is challenging because radiation can "scatter" throughout the body. When bone marrow transplants are performed, total body irradiation frequently results in irreversible infertility.
Men may have a decline in fertility after a mild radiation dose to the testicles, but they may recover over the following one to four years. Sperm production may be irreversibly harmed if the testicles receive a high radiation dose. Sometimes the hormone signals that regulate the production of sperm in the testicles are disrupted by radiation damage to the area of the brain responsible for controlling hormone production.
- Surgical Procedure
Surgery is the traditional method for cancer removal. During this method, cancer cells are used to approach and cut through incisions. Surgical treatment of prostate and seminal vesicles impacts on the production of semen, quality and motility of sperm in it. The sperm cells may depart from the semen. This surgery may occasionally result in ejaculatory dysfunction in men with testicular or colon cancer.
Infertility Test for Men
The ability of a man to become a father after cancer may depend on his fertility both before and after treatment. Testing for fertility can be done easily with a semen analysis. Very soon after ejaculation, a sample is taken and examined under a microscope. Semen quality is defined by at least three scores that are typically included in the analysis:
- The quantity of sperm is known as the sperm count. At least 20 million sperm per millilitre of semen is considered normal.
- The percentage of sperm that are actively swimming around is called motility. The sperm should have a minimum of 50% motility.
- The sperm's shape is known as its morphology. If at least thirty percent of the sperm are perfectly shaped, it is regarded as normal.
Sum-Up
To become parents, the fertility of male partner equally plays a crucial role. And in today’s fast-paced life, with stress, anxiety and unhealthy lifestyle men can also become infertile. In addition to all of these, cancer is one of the top-most factors which leads to male infertility. A male diagnosed with prostate, testicular cancer can become incapable of producing adequate amounts of quality sperm. Prostate and Testicular cancer is treatable through chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. But these cancer removal treatments may also impact the fertility of the men. To diagnose this medical condition one is advised to take a consultation with a male infertility doctor.
Read More: Worried about a men’s health issue?
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