Chemotherapy in childhood may affect baby girls’ fertility later in life

Chemotherapy in childhood may affect baby girls’ fertility later in life
Chemotherapy treatment undertaken by women during their pregnancy may negatively affect their unborn baby girls' fertility in later adulthood, warns a study.

The development of these follicles begins around 17 weeks into the baby’s development in the womb and is not completed until the later stages of pregnancy. The study revealed that the treatment before the follicles had developed wiped out up to 90 per cent of the germ cells, even at doses that are low relative to those given to patients. Treatment after the follicles were developed showed no significant adverse effects. ‘If the results we have seen in these mouse studies are replicated in human tissue, it could mean that girls born to mothers who are taking etoposide during pregnancy have a reduced fertility window,’ said lead researcher Norah Spears, Professor at the University of Edinburgh in Britain. The affected baby girls should be warned that in later life they may undergo an early menopause, the researchers concluded in the paper published in the journal BMC Cancer . (Read: Diet tips for cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy or radiation)

Source: IANS

Photo source: Getty images (Image for representational purpose only)

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