Male fertility after VAPEC-B chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
1994
Male Fertility After VAPEC-B Chemotherapy
Sample size: 14
publication
Evidence: moderate
Author Information
Author(s): J.A. Radford, S. Clark, D. Crowther, S.M. Shalet
Primary Institution: Christie Hospital
Hypothesis
Does VAPEC-B chemotherapy cause permanent damage to male fertility in patients with Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma?
Conclusion
VAPEC-B chemotherapy does not cause permanent damage to the male germinal epithelium in most cases.
Supporting Evidence
- Semen from 12 out of 14 patients contained motile spermatozoa.
- In nine cases, the sperm count was greater than 20 million per milliliter.
- Only one patient was azoospermic after treatment.
Takeaway
Most men treated with VAPEC-B chemotherapy can still have babies after treatment.
Methodology
Semen analysis was performed on 14 men a median of 13.5 months after VAPEC-B chemotherapy.
Limitations
The study had a small sample size and lacked pretreatment semen analysis for some patients.
Participant Demographics
Median age of participants was 29.5 years, with a range from 16 to 45 years.
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