> To: immunology at net.bio.net> From: ejf at welchlink.welch.jhu.edu (Ephraim Fuchs)
> Subject: Re: chemo/leukemia
> Date: 26 Oct 1994 21:43:09 GMT
> In article <38hqje$m0f at ixnews1.ix.netcom.com>,
> Kate Pierson <kathryn1 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> >do chemo and/ or leukemia make one infertile?
>> Chemo for leukemia can and usually does. The leukemia itself does not.
> That will be $50 please.
>>>Not necessarily true! The risk of gonadal dysfunction after
chemotherapy probably is dependent on both the intensity and type of
chemotherapy used. High dose alkylator therapy certainly causes
gonadal dysfunction, but long term fertility is not precluded. It
used to be that most boys received testicular irradiation
prophylactically, and this certainly is associated with a loss of
fertility; this treatment is not so common now, so complete gonadal
failure related to irradiation is less common in boys treated for
leukemia. There have even been scattered reports of successful
pregnancies to women who have received extremely intensive therapy
associated with bone marrow transplantation. While these few cases
are clearly the exception, it suggests there is a fairly broad range
of tolerance for gonadal function in patients treated with
chemotherapy (and/or irradiation).
I think you should return the $50 :->
Frederick C. Garbrecht
fred at bmt.mcw.edu
Bone Marrow Transplant Program
Medical College of Wisconsin
phone 414 257 5053
fax 414 257 7994
