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Cancer treatment has ended

Going through radiotherapy or chemotherapy is a very stressful physical and mental process. Upon completion of cancer treatment you and your relatives need time to come to terms with everything and regain stability over your life.
But when you are sufficiently recovered from your cancer treatment you may want to know your fertility status. To this end you can call on the CRG. By means of a number of tests we can try to find out to which extent cancer treatment has affected your fertility.
We can also do this for young people who underwent cancer treatment in their childhood: as soon as puberty is reached, we are able to test and monitor their fertility.

For an appointment or more information: contact the oncofertility coordinator.

Do you want to have children soon? Please look under ‘What if you want to have children’? to see what your options are and what the alternatives are when you have unexpectedly lost your fertility.

As discussed under What is gonadal toxicity? a cancer treatment also threatens the future fertility of boys and men. Especially chemotherapy, but also radiotherapy of the pelvic region, constitutes a significant risk of permanent infertility.

Sperm sample analysis
If cancer therapy did not result in the full destruction of spermatogonial cells, the creation of sperm cells may spontaneously resume after cancer treatment. If you want to know the status of your fertility, please come to the CRG for a blood test and to have your sperm analysed. To this end please contact the Oncofertility coordinator.

The hormonal values in the blood sample – and more specifically the levels of FSH or follicle-stimulating hormone – indirectly give some idea about the damage done to the testicle. The higher the FSH level, the bigger the damage – the FSH value is inversely proportional to the number of stem cells with maturation potential in the testicles. Nevertheless, a strongly increased value does not always preclude the production of sperm cells. And the other way around, a low value does not equal the 'certainty' of sperm cell production.

Only the analysis of a sperm sample can give a definite answer about the quantity and quality of sperm cell production. Based on a count of the number of (viable) sperm cells we can make a prognosis about the chance of spontaneous fertilization and pregnancy.

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Practical information

Wanted:
egg cells
for scientific research

Are you between 18 and 37 years old?
If so, you can help us.