Male infertility linked to cancer
NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. men with infertility and abnormal sperm counts have a twenty-fold greater risk of testicular cancer compared to the general population, a study found.
Department of Urology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center researchers did a retrospective review of the charts of 3,847 men presenting with infertility and abnormal semen analysis during a 10-year period.
Comparing the incidence of the infertile group to the control group, the standardized incidence ratio was 22.9 -- meaning that infertile men were more than 20 times more likely to have a testis tumor than other men, said study leader Dr. Marc Goldstein.
"Patients and physicians should be aware that one cause of male infertility is cancer, particularly testicular cancer. Screening for testicular cancer could now become a standard part of all male infertility treatment," said Goldstein.
An early diagnosis of testis cancer may increase the chance of long-term survival, according to Goldstein.
The study is published in the Journal of Urology.
Stacey's comment:
I don't want to cause unnecessary alarm by placing this post in the blog, however I think its very important for people to be aware of this information. So many couples come to me where they tell me the husband's semen analysis is fine but when I look it over there are issues that could be addressed. If you have a male fertility issue and have had abnormal semen analysis' please consult your doctor about screening for testicular cancer.
They may not be many outward signs of this issue unless there is a semen analysis so this is important to investigate. Sperm are cells and if there are high abnormals particularly, there must be a reason for this. For most men it probably won't be cancer, but if it were my family I would want to rule it out.
