How can cancer affect male fertility?

When men come to see me with a diagnosis of cancer, it’s important that we realize that it may not only be the cancer therapy that can affect their fertility, but oftentimes, at the time that they present to us, the underlying cancer process has caused impairment of their reproductive potential. And so it’s important for physicians to realize on the front end prior to the initiation of therapy that the cancer itself, and the body’s response to the cancer, may negatively affect a man’s sperm concentration, his desire for sexual activity, and his ability to achieve and maintain erections. And all these things are obviously very important in a man’s ability to have children.