Quality Of Life

How should we manage infertility in testicular cancer patients?

  • Hakan Özveri
  • Enis Rauf Coşkuner

Bull Urooncol 2011;10(3):95-101

In the last 2 decades, there has been a marked increase in incidence of testicular cancer and male infertility. Recent studies have also reported that there is an increase in the incidence of testicular tumors in infertile men. Therefore, there has been a continous and growing debate on whether infertility may actually be a forerunner of testicular cancer or early marker of this malignant disease. Testicular cancer and infertility may arise from the abnormalities occurred during the testicular development such as gonadal dysgenesis, cryptorchidism or carcinoma in situ. This interrelation is more evident in cryptorchidic patients. It is important to know the fertility status of patient who has diagnosed with testicular cancer before any related treatment modality to make appropriate management before the changes in the fertility takes place. It is also more important that the incorporating testicular cancer screening into the routine care of infertile men could be an important clinical approach. Therefore, the management of this two interrelated disease can be accomplished appropriately.

Keywords: testicular cancer, testicular function, male infertility, testicular dysgenesis, cryopreservation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, fertility preservation