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affect of chemo on having children
Hi
I suggest you watch the videos on pregnancy in CML, which do also deal with fathering a child.
Available using the links at the top of the forum topic lists.
Rod
Hi Gary,
What sort of chemo are you talking about? Hydroxyurea possibly on first diagnosis? My understanding (I went through a similar situation) is this is low dose chemotherapy and shouldn't affect any chances. When I was diagnosed, I was advised to have some frozen, just as a precaution.
Or are you talking about the Imatinib itself? I don't believe this is classed as chemotherapy. I would speak to your consultant and get them to explain the current advice.
When I was diagnosed (Nov 2007), my consultant arranged for me to speak with a fertility doctor at Hammersmith (where I am treated), and his indication was that there was no particular problems with fathering children on Imatinib from the limited data they had. We since went on to have 2 healthy children in 2009 and 2011 while I was on Imatinib 400 or 600.
So, definitely speak to your consultant, but my understanding is there shouldn't be any particular issues when the father is taking Imatinib.
Hope that helps, Bryan.
I would also add to Rod's suggestion that you read the following from the CML Horizons Conf. where Prof. Jane Apperley presented about fertility and pregnancy issues.
The full report is on the home page... see link below. A summary of Prof. Apperley's presentation is on page 7 of the report but I have copied it below for convenience.
http://www.cmlsupport.org.uk/node/7940
Fertility and pregnancy were discussed by
Jane Apperley, who emphasized that fertility
should be taken into consideration at the time
of diagnosis for those who wish to conceive.
She reported on a study of 60 pregnancies in
partners of men on imatinib that found no
suggestion of any problems in conception,
pregnancy, and delivery or of any increase in
congenital abnormalities. For female CML
patients, the situation is different, with
outcomes for women on imatinib during
pregnancy including fetal abnormalities and
spontaneous abortions, as well as normal live
infants. Advice for women will vary depending
on the state of disease and disease response.
Generally the deeper the female patient’s
level of response prior to stopping treatment
for pregnancy, the more likely she is to get it
back when she resumes treatment. There is
little hard data at this time on the impact of
second and third generation TKIs on
pregnancy and her advice was for the female
patient to stop treatment or postpone its
initiation.