Freezing Sperm for Chemotherapy Patients
Dr Russell Dalton June 08
As you know, many men are diagnosed with cancer each year in the Ballarat district. A proportion of these men will be hoping to father children in the future.
Chemotherapy, as an adjunct to other treatments for cancer, poses a risk to male fertility. Ballarat IVF has the facilities to provide sperm freezing at short notice for patients diagnosed with malignancies prior to chemotherapy commencing.
There are occasions when men are referred for sperm freezing just prior to commencement of chemotherapy, when there are significant time pressures in obtaining sufficient sperm to freeze.
Obviously, GPs are almost always the first medical contact in a situation of possible malignancy. Hence, if deemed appropriate, referring men for sperm freezing early in the diagnostic and treatment process is preferable.
This article is available online at http://bddgp.org.au/article/2008/06/freezing-sperm
Comment on this article
Your comments are published on this page. While we encourage your candour and honesty, BDDGP reserves the right to remove advertising or offensive comments.