Childhood cancer is bigger risk to fertility for boys: Just half who survive go on to become fathers compared with 70% of girls who fell pregnant

Childhood cancer is bigger risk to fertility for boys: Just half who survive go on to become fathers compared with 70% of girls who fell pregnant

Most girls who survive childhood cancer go on to become mothers, according to a major study.

But boys who undergo treatment will find their chances of becoming a father significantly reduced.

The findings suggest that modern forms of chemotherapy do not rob girls of the chance of having a child, as many drugs did in the past.

Researchers found that 70 per cent treated with chemotherapy go on to become pregnant before the age of 45, only slightly fewer than the 80 per cent of healthy women who conceive by the same age.

For men, however, the research is less encouraging. Only 50 per cent of boys treated with chemotherapy in childhood go on to make a partner pregnant, compared to 80 per cent of most men.

The findings, published yesterday in the Lancet Oncology medical journal, may lead to changes in the way child cancer patients are treated.

Experts said some invasive measures taken to preserve a child’s fertility may not be required in all patients – and should instead be targeted at those most at risk.

Around 4,000 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. Medical advances mean that 80 per cent can expect to survive into adulthood.

But improved survival rates have led to a new focus on the far-reaching impacts of treatments.