EBMT 2022 | Considerations for fertility preservation in patients with leukemia who undergo HSCT

Tamara Diesch • 21 Mar 2022

EBMT 2022

Leukemia

Tamara Diesch, MD, University Children’s Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, gives some recommendations for fertility preservation in patients with leukemia who undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). It has been shown that chemotherapy is associated with a high risk of gonadotoxicity. In 2021, new guidelines set a lower cutoff for the recommended dose of alkylating agents and stated that all patients candidate for chemotherapy and radiotherapy should receive counseling and should be offered an alternative treatment depending on their age. Dr Diesch also explains that gonadal tissue cryopreservation for fertility preservation can result in relapse, and the MRD levels that indicate whether a patient will relapse have not yet been determined. This interview took place at the 48th Annual Meeting of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) 2022, which was held virtually.