What can my doctor do to protect my fertility?

Radiation and chemotherapy can put your future fertility at risk. Providing a sperm sample prior to therapy will probably give you the best chance of having children in the future.

But there are also ways that your oncologist can protect your fertility during surgery or cancer treatment. Radiation oncologists can determine the dose of radiation needed to kill the cancer while minimizing the toxic effect on nearby normal tissues or sensitive tissues, such as the testicles and sperm. This procedure is called dose fractionation, and is standard practice at most radiation treatment facilities.