Fertility in Thal Major Patients

I was wondering if Thal Major patients are able to have children and if a higher Fe count means less chance of fertility. I'm talking about males specifically. 

Male and female thals can have children, but some may have difficulty with fertility, partly due to iron damage to the pituitary and partly due to other factors. I believe that we will some day find that certain characteristics of thal blood itself will be shown to be the cause of pituitary shrinkage in thals. The gland eventually disappears completely, even when iron load is well controlled. A fertility test can tell you if you're fertile. If there is a lack of fertility, hormone shots may be able to restore it.

Andy,
Are there any studies showing that pituitary gland shrinks in thals?
Manal

Manal,

We joined a study with Dr. Wood last summer for the pituitary.  We will know more over time.  Little A had an MRI of his pituitary - so far there is no iron in his pituitary and no volume loss of pituitary for him.  We hope this continues to be the case.  I will keep you all posted as to what they find in this study, we continue to get information over time.  Actually, Andy may know more as I am always too nervous to look at the results and have him open them for me before I look at them...

I will let you know once I know more about this trend,

Sharmin

Thank you so much Sharmin for your reply
I am happy to know that little A results were fine and hope  they will continue to be so

Does this study include non transfused patients?

Manal

Manal,

I believe the information about pituitary shrinkage was given to us face to face by Dr Wood at the 2009 NYC conference. This was also confirmed by Ralph, a patient I met at that conference, whose pituitary can no longer be detected.

The presentation about the pituitary and the ongoing study by Dr Wood at the NYC conference is now posted in Documents at
http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php/topic,4019.msg40116.html#msg40116

Thank you so much dear Andy

Hmm..I was hoping not hear this. Oh well. Thanks for the reply Andy.

Hamza,

At your age, you have plenty of time to get your ferritin under control. I would recommend that you focus on this before thinking about fertility. I think you will have a very good chance of having children once you get your iron load down and under control. I know many older thals who didn't even have desferal when young, but had children as adults. We've had several members reduce ferritin levels of over 10,000 to under 1000. It takes a constant effort but it's well worth it. We are here for any advice and support you may need.

One of the things bothering me about BMT was the chance of loss of fertility due to the chemo and radiation. Seems the risk is there even if you dont go for BMT. I wonder which affects fertility more.
Zahra

If ferritin is kept constantly under control, it greatly increases the chances of staying fertile. I believe that antioxidants also can play a positive role in keeping the pituitary healthy. I also like the natural chelators like IP6 and green tea extract, as they can penetrate areas where other chelators have problems, helping to keep iron under control in places like the glands and brain. Fermented Papaya Preparation (FPP) is also a very intriguing development. I wish I could have heard Prof. Eliezer E. Rachmilewitz speak at the recent conference in Turkey, as he is a top expert in nutrition and antioxidants. He has done much research into the effects of FPP. Hopefully, we will eventually hear some updates from the conference on this topic.

BMT definitely is more of a threat than thal to fertility if the patient is well compliant with a good treatment program. This is one factor to be considered, but there are also positive factors, like being cured. It is not an easy decision to make.

For anyone where it would apply, I would say a sibling matched cord blood transplant would be something parents should feel confident in proceeding and should do so.