Aspermia and recovery of spermatogenesis in cancer patients following incidental gonadal irradiation during treatment: a progress report.

The 11 patients in this study who received incidental gonadal irradiation from clinical therapy all became aspermic within 8-34 weeks following treatment. The estimated gonadal dose was 118-228 rads. Five of these patients have shown recovery of spermatogenesis; 3 of these have reached fertilizable concentrations. Recovery of semen sperm was noted at 44-77 weeks following treatment. The other 2 patients, after 110-176 weeks, have sub-fertile concentrations of semen sperm. Five patients have not been followed for a sufficient length of time to permit recovery to be noted.