My husband, who is only 25, was just diagnosed with cml. They prescribed him Sprycel, which he has not started taking yet. We dont have children yet and we are concerned about the side effectbon infertility being listed on the drug side effects. We cant seem to find the likelyhood of this happening on any websites anywhere. If anyone has any insight, we would really appreciate it. Thank you!
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fertility and sprycel in males? please help
Sorry to hear of your husband recent diagnosis, Sprycel is a great TKI and hopefully he will do very well and respond quick. If your husband has not started treatment the easiest and safest way would be to look at sperm banking, then the need for coming off treatment in time would be done away with. All the best.
Hi,
I am sorry to hear your husband has been diagnosed with CML at the young age of 25.
As Nigel has said, Sprycel (dasatinib) is one of 5 very effective TKIs, and it is more than likely that he will respond very well. The issue of the side effect of infertility in males is pretty much the same for all 5 TKI drugs. I am not sure of how frequently this has been observed in the real world, but it seems it is a risk for males.
It would seem sensible to go ahead and bank sperm given he has not yet started therapy.
It may also be that your husband does not suffer this effect and after you have both come to terms with it all- both the diagnosis and the treatment, you can think about testing the motility and number of sperm after start of therapy. This is a simple test. If his sperm count remains good you could start to think about trying for a baby if you wish to.
Although females are not advised to continue with TKI therapy when trying to get pregnant or during pregnancy, males are advised that they can continue with therapy as there does not seem to be any greater risk of this kind of therapy causing foetal abnormalities than in the non- CML male population.
This is not the case with females on TKI therapy.
There is an additional discussion of this subject... further down the page... that may be helpful for you to read.
http://www.cmlsupport.org.uk/node/8859
If you need any further advise/support then please ask.
Sandy
Hi,
I'm a few years older than your husband, but in a similar situation. The research in inconclusive whether there is a fertility issue in men on Sprycel / dasatinib - perhaps there is no problem at all but I preferred to be safe so I banked sperm before starting TKI therapy, so it's there to be used if / when we decide to.
It was all covered on the NHS, so I can't really see any reason not to do that. It's not the most fun experience ever, but in the scheme of things well worth doing.
I'm on Sprycel / dasatinib too.
David.
David, I dont know what NHS is... we are in the united states, I just happened across this forum when I was doing research and found some of the topics very helpful. We were told by 2 different doctors that because of his age, fertility should not be an issue. They both recommended that he start treatment immediately instead of delaying while we try to find a sperm bank. We are hoping we have put faith in the right people on this decision.
Thank you for sharing, it helps to hear what others experiences are.