Impact of cancer treatments on fertility: A literature review
Abstract
Nowadays, different effective methods have been developed to treat cancer that have successfully increased survival rates. Among them, in addition to traditional treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, targeted therapies stand out, which have been implemented in recent years. One of the aspects on which this review focuses is on gonadotoxicity as an adverse effect that they bring, an important fact given that it can generate repercussions not only on a biological level, but also on a psychological and social level.In the case of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it was found that most of them cause direct gonadal damage, depletion of germ cells or endocrinological alterations.As for the new therapies (immunotherapy and targeted therapies) they proved to be equally effective and cause fewer adverse effects.From this, a new term called oncofertility arises, focused on providing information through a multidisciplinary team about the aforementioned risk and suggesting different methods in order to preserve fertility. Some of these are gonadal shielding, cryopreservation of gonadal tissue, stem cells and gametes.
For this review, the following databases were used: PubMed, Cochrane, Portal Timbó, Scielo, ScienceDirect and Lilacs. Taking into account the objectives set and the inclusion criteria, 56 articles were chosen. Inclusion criteria: randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, metaanalysis, medicine & public health, and exclusion: full text, free full text, children under 10 years of age, English and Spanish.
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