Fertility status in childhood cancer survivors of hematological malignancies: a systematic review.

Stunning advances in treatment modalities implemented in children with hematological malignancies have led to 5-year overall survival rates exceeding 85%. However, this growing population of long-term survivors has raised significant concerns about their fertility status throughout adulthood, while specific treatment- and non-treatment-related factors appear to possibly affect fertility through distinct mechanisms. We aimed to comprehensively review the published literature on the association between treatment-related factors and risk of impaired fertility in childhood hematological cancer survivors. We searched PubMed up to March 2021 to identify eligible studies published during the last two decades. A narrative synthesis of the results was performed, although no meta-analysis was feasible due to the small number of studies and the large heterogeneity of evidence. Five studies on 2020 survivors of childhood leukemia were deemed eligible. The qualitative data synthesis showed significant fertility deficits in survivors treated with cranial radiotherapy and chemotherapy for childhood leukemia. Two studies examined biochemical measures of reduced ovarian reserve, providing some evidence that the levels of anti-Müllerian hormone can be used as a proxy for diminished ovarian reserve. The current findings should facilitate the delivery of age- and gender-appropriate interventions to optimize reproductive outcomes in childhood hematological cancer survivors.