The Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) has completed a study in which it showed high fertility rates even in men who had had a testicle removed and undergone chemotherapy.

The CRC says the research blows away the old myth that sufferers can only have children by artificial insemination.

Sperm counts

The research was done at the Royal Marsden NHS Trust in Sutton, Surrey.

Grand National winner Bob Champion recovered from testicular cancer

The CRC team looked at the sperm counts of 170 men who had already had a testicle removed because of cancer and who then went on to receive chemotherapy.

They found that, by analysing the sperm counts of these men prior to chemotherapy and then assessing the amount and type of treatment they received, doctors could predict a man's future fertility.

Almost half of patients were well enough to become potential fathers two years after their initial course of chemotherapy, rising to 80% after five years. And, of the patients included in the research, 51 went on to become fathers - producing 62 children.

Father's Day

"These findings are perfect news for Father's Day because they pour cold water on the myth that testicular cancer spells the end to any hopes a man may have of becoming a dad," says the director-general of the Cancer Research Campaign, Professor Gordon McVie.

"It's also another feather in the Campaign's cap because our researchers have made major contributions to the development of chemotherapy drugs which are used for the treatment of advanced testicular cancer.

"And now we discover that, as well as improving these men's chances of survival from 0 to more than 80 per cent, they may also help save their fertility!"

Doctor predictions

The researchers found that sperm counts fell after chemotherapy, but only temporarily. And around three-quarters of the patients in the study recovered their normal sperm count after a period of time.

Professor Alan Horwich, who led the CRC team, said: "Importantly, our research also showed that doctors are able to predict which men are less likely to recover their sperm count. This means that those men can be advised to store their sperm prior to chemotherapy."

The professor suggest that these men could then be advised to store sperm before treatment for use in artificial insemination later in life.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. It was supported by the Bob Champion Cancer Trust which was set up by the Grand National winning jockey.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1979 and was successfully treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey. The former jockey now raises money for the Professional Unit of the Department of Radiotherapy & Oncology at the trust.

Around 1,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with testicular cancer every year and it is the most common cancer among men aged between 20 and 34.