Reproductive ability in survivors of childhood, adolescent, and young adult Hodgkin lymphoma: a review.

BACKGROUND: Owing to a growing number of young and adolescent Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors, awareness of (long-term) adverse effects of anticancer treatment increases. The risk of impaired reproductive ability is of great concern given its impact on quality of life. There is currently no review available on fertility after childhood HL treatment. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE: The aim of this narrative review was to summarize existing literature on different aspects of reproductive function in male and female childhood, adolescent, and young adult HL survivors. SEARCH METHODS: PubMed and EMBASE were searched for articles evaluating fertility in both male and female HL survivors aged <25 years at diagnosis. In females, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), antral follicle count, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), acute ovarian failure, menstrual cycle, FSH, and pregnancy/live births were evaluated. In males, semen-analysis, serum FSH, inhibin B, LH, testosterone, and reports on pregnancy/live births were included. There was profound heterogeneity among studies and a lack of control groups; therefore, no meta-analyses could be performed. Results were presented descriptively and the quality of studies was not assessed individually. OUTCOMES: After screening, 75 articles reporting on reproductive markers in childhood or adolescent HL survivors were included. Forty-one papers reported on 5057 female HL survivors. The incidence of POI was 6-34% (median 9%; seven studies). Signs of diminished ovarian reserve or impaired ovarian function were frequently seen (low AMH 55-59%; median 57%; two studies. elevated FSH 17-100%; median 53%; seven studies). Most survivors had regular menstrual cycles. Fifty-one studies assessed fertility in 1903 male HL survivors. Post-treatment azoospermia was highly prevalent (33-100%; median 75%; 29 studies). Long-term follow-up data were limited, but reports on recovery of semen up to 12 years post-treatment exist. FSH levels were often elevated with low inhibin B (elevated FSH 0-100%; median 51.5%; 26 studies. low inhibin B 19-50%; median 45%; three studies). LH and testosterone levels were less evidently affected (elevated LH 0-57%, median 17%; 21 studies and low testosterone 0-43%; median 6%; 15 studies). In both sexes, impaired reproductive ability was associated with a higher dose of cumulative chemotherapeutic agents and pelvic radiotherapy. The presence of abnormal markers before treatment indicated that the disease itself may also negatively affect reproductive function (Females: AMH

Impacts of platinum-based chemotherapy on subsequent testicular function and fertility in boys with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Children with cancer often face infertility as a long-term complication of their treatment. For boys, compromised testicular function is common after chemotherapy and currently there are no well-established options to prevent this damage. Platinum-based agents are used to treat a wide variety of childhood cancers. However, platinum agents are not currently included in the cyclophosphamide equivalent dose (CED), which is used clinically to assess the risks to fertility posed by combination chemotherapy in children with cancer. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE: This was a systematic search of the literature designed to determine the evidence for effects of platinum-based cancer treatment on the prepubertal human testis in relation to subsequent testicular function and fertility. SEARCH METHODS: PubMed and EMBASE were searched for articles published in English between 01 January 1966 and 05 April 2020 using search terms including 'cancer treatment', 'chemotherapy', 'human', 'prepubertal', 'testis', 'germ cells', 'testosterone' and related terms. Abstracts were screened and full-text articles were obtained for those that met the three major inclusion criteria (age ≤12 years at treatment, exposure to platinum-based chemotherapeutic and measure of reproductive function). Screening of bibliographies for full-text articles was used to identify additional studies. OUTCOMES: Our initial search identified 1449 articles of which 20 (1.3%) studies (n = 13 759 males) met all inclusion criteria. A control group (healthy individuals or siblings) was included for 5/20 (25%) studies. A total of 10/20 (50%) studies provided sub-analysis of the relative gonadotoxicity of platinum-based agents.The primary outcome measures were: pregnancies and fatherhood; semen analysis; and hormonal function. For pregnancies and fatherhood, three studies (n = 10 453 males) reported negative associations with platinum-agents, including the largest (n = 5640) controlled study (hazard ratio = 0.56, P = 0.0023), whilst two other studies (n = 1781) with platinum sub-analysis reported no association. For semen analysis (based on World Health Organization criteria), platinum-based chemotherapy was associated with azoospermia in one study (n = 129), whilst another (n = 44) found no association and the remainder did not perform platinum-based sub-analysis. For hormone analysis, conflicting results were obtained regarding potential associations between platinum-based agents and elevated FSH (a proxy for impaired spermatogenesis); however, the majority of these studies were based on low numbers of patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. WIDER IMPLICATIONS: Overall, these results indicate that platinum-based chemotherapy should be included in clinical calculators, for example CED, used to determine gonadotoxicity for childhood cancer treatment. These findings have important implications for clinicians regarding counselling patients and their carer(s) on fertility risk, guiding requirements for fertility preservation strategies (e.g. testicular tissue cryopreservation) and modification of treatments to reduce or eliminate the risk of infertility in childhood cancer survivors.