Granada leads a national initiative for children with cancer to freeze their sperm
Foundations, health professionals and associations celebrated the International Day of the Fight against Childhood Cancer last Monday. In Spain, 1.400 new cases of pediatric tumors are diagnosed every year - up to 18 years of age -, the most frequent of which is leukemia, followed by those of the central nervous system and lymphomas. In oncohematology at the Maternal and Child Hospital of Granada, an average of 30 new cases of children with cancer are detected per year, in the day unit six to eight children are treated each day and in the outpatient consultations, 20 children a week.
One in every 500 minors from Granada will develop this disease before the age of 15, according to a recent study by the Andalusian School of Public Health. All will go through the children's oncology area of the province, which is currently located in the Maternal area of the capital, specifically on the seventh floor, where pampering is extreme and there is even a small school for those affected, who usually have hospital admissions long. Three doctors specializing in pediatric tumors ensure that patients receive the best treatment and avoid the medical process.
Precisely because the alliance between drugs, specialists and their patients allows better survival rates every day, now it is proposed to preserve the fertility of children with cancer, so that they can become parents when they grow up, since chemotherapy treatments and Radiation therapy decreases "between 10 and 20%" the fertility of patients, explains José Antonio Castilla Alcalá, an embryologist at the assisted reproduction unit at the Virgen de las Nieves hospital and a researcher at the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada.
The doctor from Granada also works in the private entity Ceifer (Centre for the study and investigation of fertility) and within this he has carried out the non-profit project "congelaparaelfuturo.org", together with the Gynecology and Psychiatry Services of the hospital University Quirón Dexeus, Barcelona. This resource facilitates the semen collection and freezing procedure for young patients from all over Spain and their families, using a fresh and carefree language and shows the protagonist all the steps to follow, while solving their main doubts and concerns. “A group of experts have drawn up the project and indicated the points where cryopreservation can be carried out. In Granada, for example, you can choose the Virgen de las Nieves hospital, of course, ”adds the expert, who emphasizes that they are techniques at no cost to the affected person.
The English NGO Teenage Cancer Trust, dedicated to the care and support of children, was the first entity in the world that two years ago produced material to inform adolescents about the option of cryopreservation. Now the Granada project has come to light - in collaboration with Barcelona - with the same purpose. This refers to a network of Spanish centers where the sperm of the smallest patients, 11 and 12 years old, can be helped and frozen. In them is the challenge. «With 15 to 18 it is easier and it has already been done, but the novel thing is to start at such an early age. This also helps to remove the stigma of the disease and to see future prospects ", emphasizes José Antonio Castilla Alcalá, whose initiative has been echoed even in Latin America.
The diagnosis of cancer awakens great anxiety in children and their families, so that they are not prepared to face the problem of infertility and tend to ignore the information, and may require a psychiatric or psychological intervention. On the other hand, experts say that the vast majority have not yet considered having children and find it difficult to think realistically about infertility and its possible consequences; Added to all this is the feeling of shame when discussing sex or masturbation with parents or with their doctor. The importance of this initiative lies in standardization.
Early diagnostic
On the other hand, all the agents involved highlighted yesterday that early diagnosis is essential to combat the disease and that is what the demands of the group revolved around. Juan Antonio Roca, president of the Granada association Aúpa, aimed at supporting parents of children with tumors, called for more resources in primary care and for the role and resources of pediatricians in health centers to be strengthened. face to early detection.
The concept of pediatric cancer has changed in recent years and its diagnosis does not necessarily amount to a death sentence. Professionals such as the Granada oncologist María José Moreno like to speak positively and point out that "on average" childhood cancers in Granada have a survival rate of between 68 and 75%. “It depends a lot on the type of tumor we are talking about. For example, leukemia has a 90% survival rate, while neuroblastomas have a 70% mortality rate, "the doctor clarifies.
In this sense, the president of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (Sehop), Tomás Acha, affirmed yesterday that, although the survival data are "very good", we must aspire to improve them "even more" until we are in the 80% cure rates in the better-off countries.
The parents and the child's state of mind play a fundamental role in this disease that has an important psychological component, so much so that the Maternal of Granada has a family support department, with professionals who provide therapies and solve the needs of the child. small patient, his parents and his siblings, if any.