Cancer Treatment Options Forum - February 8th, 2012 - 1 Comment
Has anyone had a healthy pregnancy after having radiation treatment for cancer?
I am just wondering if anyone has had radiation treatment for cancer and still been able to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. I had my last radiation treatment about 8 years ago for the treatment of thyroid cancer and I am just wondering if it is possible for me to ever be able to have a healthy child.
This is something to discuss with your oncologist, but radiation treatment is usually very localized. There is really no chance external radiation treatment affected the eggs you have stored in your ovaries. However, there are glands in the head that make and control the hormones needed to get your ovaries to release an egg. You need to speak with the doc to see if the radiation could have affected that, and if any of those affects would be long term. Also, if you received radioactive iodine initially to treat the cancer, that could have affected your eggs, but that is dose dependent and in most cases has little to no affect on fertility.