Semen quality before and after gonadotoxic treatment

Abstract

Gonadotoxic treatment results in a significant reduction in sperm quality. The type of cancer or disease, and the pre-treatment sperm concentrations were found to be the most significant factors governing post-treatment semen quality and recovery of spermatogenesis. All categories of patients displayed varying degrees of azoospermia and oligozoospermia, and recovery of gonadal function from these states was not significant. This highlights the importance of ensuring sperm banking before treatment, including for patients with benign conditions. Several factors and associations are discussed further in order to give an insight into the pre- and post-gonadotoxic treatment effects.

Testicular sperm extraction in a single cancerous testicle in patients with azoospermia: a case report

“…Nevertheless, 30-50% of the patients will not be able to achieve spontaneous pregnancy in the years after the treatment of testicular cancer (9). Before the development of ICSI, the alternatives proposed to patients presenting with spermatogenesis failure were sperm donor or adoption.…”

“…Thus, each patient should be fully informed of the possibility of sperm cryopreservation before the implementation of treatment (6)(7)(8)(9).…”

“…Almost 13% of patients with testicular cancer present with azoospermia before any sterilizing treatment (8)(9)(10). Conversely, azoospermia can also be the indication for testis biopsy (11).…”

Wichtige Themen für jeden Onkologen

“…94% der behandelten Männer mit Hodenkrebs gute Erholungsraten der Spermatogenese. Bahadur et al [1] untersuchten im Jahr 2005 Spermiogramme von Lymphompatienten, wobei 59% der behandelten Männer eine initiale Azoo spermie aufwiesen. Erst 45 Monate nach Therapieende konnten die quantitativ besten Spermiogramme ausgewertet werden.…”

Sperm cryopreservation in patients with hematologic malignancies

“…However, there are few reports on sperm production in adults with acute leukemia. Recently, Bahadur et al [5] showed that gonadal toxic treatment for adult patients with leukemia or lymphoma results in significant reduction in sperm quality. Similar results were reported by Lemez and Urbánek [6].…”