2001 CTOS Annual Meeting Posters— Medical Oncology

FERTILITY IN YOUNG ADULTS FOLLOWING CHEMOTHERAPY FOR HIGH-GRADE BONE SARCOMAS
Richard D Lackman,  Kathy Henderson,  Rakesh Donthineni-Rao
Department of Orthopaedics University of Pennsylvania

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients with osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma treated by the senior author, from 1985-94. The chemotherapeutic agents included adriamycin, cisplatin, methotrexate, ifosfamide, cytoxan, and vincristine. Patients were queried about attempts at childbirth and history of pregnancy.

RESULTS: . Positive reports included 10 males and 5 females with a mean age at diagnosis of 18 years (range 12 to 26). The mean time to the first conception following cessation of chemotherapy was 5.5 years (range 1 to 11). All the couples except one, attempting conception were successful without any complications during the pregnancy and without any congenital abnormalities of the babies. The unsuccessful couple underwent a battery of testing and the partner without a history of cancer was reported to be infertile. None of the couples utilized fertility-enhancing drugs.

CONCLUSION: While some articles have suggested that the effects of chemotherapy on adolescents and young adults with high-grade sarcomas are transient, actual pregnancies have not been studied. We found successful conception and subsequent birth of normal children, and should be the expectation for these patients.