Mirage
October 30, 2002, 11:18pm
1
A friend of mine was just suprised to learn that she’s pregnant. While she is thinking about keeping the child, the problem is that the father was undergoing chemotherapy for lukemia at the time. He told her that the chemo made him sterile and so they weren’t as safe as they could be.
Anyhow the question was put to me if the chemotherapy on the sperm could cause the child to have any complications or defomities.
It is a good question.
Doesn’t she need to ask her doctor this as soon as possible? Like tomorrow?
Um, yeah, actually, it looks like it might.
http://www.prevention-news.com/other/chemotherapy_and_sperm.htm
This work was published in the May issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics and includes the results of an eight-year study of men with Hodgkins disease, a cancer of white blood cells. This disease tends to strike people between the ages of 20 and 40 which is the parental age when most children are conceived.
The research focused on the sex chromosomes, known as X and Y, but also included chromosome 8 because it responds to fluorescent dye better than other chromosomes.
Among the patients studied during this research project, the number of sperm with extra or missing X, Y or number 8 chromosomes increased five-fold during chemotherapy treatment, according to the researchers.
It was also noted by the research team that the effect was temporary. About 100 days after treatment ended, the abnormal sperm counts had returned to pre-treatment levels.
Disorders in chromosomes are very common. In fact, about 7 in every 1,000 births will be affected by a chromosomal disorder. A chromosome abnormality is something that can be seen under a microscope.
http://www.chem-tox.com/pregnancy/sperm1.htm#chemotherapy
Sperm Damage Suspected from Chemotherapy -
SOURCE: Science, Vol. 211(2), January, 1981
Adult rats exposed to the common cancer chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide produced offspring that showed retardation in various tests of behavior development. The study, conducted by several colleges including the Division of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, conducted behavioral assessments of the offspring using the following procedures…
There’s a bunch more out there. Google under “chemotherapy defective sperm”.
Second the motion for her to talk to her doctor about this ASAP.
