A serious concern expressed by patients with previous cytotoxic therapy who wish to have children is whether their offspring could be genetically damaged by the treatment.

Several studies have been carried out to quantify the risk of genetic disease in the children of parents having undergone cytotoxic treatment. No study found a statistically significant increase in the risk of genetic disease. However, in view of the available data, it cannot be ruled out that there may be a risk increase by up to 76% which has not yet been recognised (Meistrich et al., Am J Hum Genet, 2002, 70: 1069-71). Therefore, we can assume that there is a very limited risk of genetic disease for the offspring of patients after cytotoxic treatment if the pregnancy starts at least one year after therapy. It is not possible to exclude such a risk altogether.

Since the development from the primordial follicle to the Graafian follicle takes about 6 months and spermiogenesis about 3 months, from a reproductive biology perspective, patients should wait at least 6 months, but ideally 12 months before they get pregnant.