How can a bone marrow transplant affect my child's fertility?

If your child’s treatment regimen requires a bone marrow transplant, you are not alone. Leukemia is the most common form of childhood cancer, and it’s often treated with bone marrow transplantation, or BMT. In most cases, BMT first requires a pretreatment “conditioning regimen” using high-dose chemotherapy and/or total-body radiation. These regimens serve two purposes: to kill cancer cells in the bloodstream and to suppress the immune system so it will not reject the bone marrow being transplanted.

While BMT may be the the best treatment option for some children diagnosed with leukemia, the conditioning regimens do unfortunately carry a high risk of infertility after treatment.

Click on the links to the right to learn about some of the fertility preservation options available to your son or daughter before they begin treatment.