Radiation effects on male fertility

Abstract

Background: Spermatogenesis is a process of dynamic cell differentiation. Ionizing radiation impairs spermatogenesis, and spermatogonia are more radiosensitive than spermatocytes or spermatids. Consistent with this assumption and due to improvement in tumor curability, nowadays, fertility preservation represents a public health need.

Objectives: To discuss radiotherapy-induced risk to male fertility and raise oncologic awareness of male fertility in daily clinical practice.

Materials and methods: PubMed and Clinicaltrials.gov databases were searched for papers in English.

Results: We provide an overview of clinical landscape. Four main issues were proposed: (i) spermatogenesis and radiobiological general concepts; (ii) impairment of spermatogenesis; (iii) impairment of testosterone-producing Leydig cells; (iv) clinical radiotherapy evidence in oncology.

Conclusion: This review can be useful in daily clinical work and offer some directions for future research.

Keywords: fertility; late effects; oligospermia; radiation; radiotherapy; spermatogenesis; spermatogonia.