INFORMING CANCER-PATIENTS ABOUT STERILITY INDUCED BY TREATMENTS AND ABOUT AUTOCONVERSION OF SPERM

The antifertility effect of anticancer therapies cannot be known befor e treatment and cryopreservation of semen is the only way to protect a patient's chances of reproduction. In order to better understand how cancer patients perceive such information, we asked them to answer a q uestionnaire two years after diagnosis of their cancer. Cancer patient s who were referred to our centre for semen preservation from 1986 to 1990 were asked in 1992 to answer a questionnaire about information on induced sterility and semen preservation they had been given at diagn osis. Fifty pf 104 patients contacted accepted to give their opinion. Most (80%) of the patients who responded felt they should be completel y informed of all possible consequences of their disease state and 88% felt that physicians should always inform their patients about the ef fect of cancer treatment on fertility and about semen preservation bef ore starting anticancer treatments. The information they had actually received was however insufficient or totally lacking, according to 42% of the patients for the anti-fertility effect of treatment and accord ing to 68% for semen preservation. Among these patients who had been r eferred to our centre of semen preservation, 66% had signed a semen pr eservation contract. These results demonstrate that cancer patients pe rceive information on a selective basis. Thus better patient informati on is a challenge for all those treating cancer patients and emphasize s the need for improving the doctor/patient relationship.