In The News - SFCM News
At this year’s 2010 national American Urologic Association’s meeting in San Francisco, California, Cassidy et al. from Toronto Canada looked back at all the male patients at their institution that had underwent radiologic treatment for varicoceles (dilated veins in the scrotum that can hinder the testicles ability to make sperm and testosterone). The varicoceles were treated by embolization (where the major blood vessels in your body are accessed via a small skin puncture, and the blood vessels causing the varicoceles are blocked off using metal coils or clogging agents). They found that the success rate for treating left-sided varicoceles (97%) was comparable to microsurgical varicocele ligations whereas the embolization of right-sided varicoceles had a much higher failure rate of 13%.
Bottomline: If the hospital near you has radiologic specialists who can do these embolizations, it is a treatment option that is comparable to microsurgical varicocele ligations. If you have bilateral varicoceles or a right-sided varicocele, you may be better served by having the microsurgical repair since the embolizations don’t work as well for the right side. As always, consult your male fertility doctor to learn what he is most comfortable with at your medical institution. -082010
Bottomline: This concept of assessing sperm DNA damage before cancer therapy may provide a useful tool to assess whether the level of sperm DNA damage after cancer therapy has returned to a man's baseline levels to help counsel men about post-therapy fertility potential. -81310
Bottomline: Education is a wonderful thing...not only for patients but also for their doctors. Male fertility specialists need to continue playing a key role in empowering oncologists with education so that they can help their young men with cancer make solid decisions about whether cryopreservation should be done before cancer therapy is started.
Bottomline: If you have been recently diagnosed with cancer and hope to preserve your fertility potential, make sure you bring this issue up with your cancer doc. Sperm cryopreservation ("freezing sperm") may be an option for you. If your cancer doc isn't sure about your options, make an appointment with your nearest male fertility specialist.
Bottomline: If your male fertility doc finds a small (<1 centimeter) mass on your testicle by accident during an ultrasound test, don't reflexively panic!. Talk to your doc first! Based on these data, most of these incidental testicular masses can be followed safely with ultrasounds. Moreover, the vast majority did not grow significantly over time, and most men did not need surgery (And even if they did, the vast majority were NOT cancers!). Obviously, every testicular mass is not the same so make sure you receive a proper medical evaluation from your doctor before making any final decisions.













