SAN FRANCISCO, CA — 02/24/09 —
Findings from a new study in the current
issue of
confirm for the first time in a large U.S. study that
testicular cancer risk is higher among men with a history of infertility in
the past, compared to the general population. Previous research on this
topic was reported mainly from European countries with a much higher
prevalence of testis cancer in the male population.
In men with testicular cancer, the risk of infertility during or after
cancer treatment has been well known. But, other than such close
associations with major medical illnesses such as cancer, doctors have
generally thought the majority of male infertility is an isolated event –
not really a medical illness.
The study recruited 43,404 U.S. couples evaluated for infertility from 1965
to 1998 from 15 California infertility centers. Information on the male
partners was linked to the California Cancer Registry (CCR). Men with
cancer that preceded infertility were excluded from the study. The
incidence of testicular cancer was compared to the incidence in an
age-matched sample of men from the general population using
of the National Cancer Institute. In the infertility
cohort, 44 post-infertility cases of testicular cancer were identified.
Overall, men from couples with infertility were 1.7 times more likely to
develop cancer than other men. Among men in whom the infertility was known
to be due to the male partner, the risk of developing testicular cancer was
markedly higher (3.6 times) than the general population. Even when the
calculation was adjusted for age, duration of treatment, and treatment
facility, men with male factor infertility had 2.7 times the hazard of
developing testicular cancer.
“Male infertility is clearly not as benign a condition for men’s future
health as once thought,” says
, a
urologist and Director of The Turek Clinic in San Francisco, who was senior
author on the study.
Even more interesting is the issue of what common features may lead to
this association of past male infertility and future testis cancer. Dr.
Turek’s prior scientific research has shown that severely infertile men
with no sperm in ejaculate can demonstrate abnormalities of DNA repair, a
finding that has known associations with cancer development in both humans
and animal models. “We should begin to think of infertility as a window
into men’s health,” says Dr. Turek. “We suspect that infertile men are at
higher risk of other cancers such as colon, melanoma and even prostate
cancer. Future research will clarify this point.”
Research colleagues on this paper include Thomas Walsh MD, MS, Assistant
Professor of Urology at the University of Washington, and Michael Schembri
BS, June Chan ScD, and Mary Croughan Ph.D from the University of
California, San Francisco.
The Turek Clinic is a next-generation men’s healthcare medical practice
specializing in issues facing reproductive age men, including male
infertility, vasectomies, vasectomy reversal, varicocele repair, and other
minimally invasive procedures. The practice was founded by
, a
leading surgeon and former endowed chair professor at the University of
California San Francisco in May, 2008. Dr. Turek’s work combines
innovative and cutting edge techniques with the wisdom of old-world
medicine to treat and solve the problems of men ages 21 to 55 years of age.
For more information visit
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