ABSTRACT

Modern cancer therapies have greatly improved survival rates in men of reproductive age and younger; however, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy may lead to male infertility. In this review, we would like to investigate fertility status of men with testicular cancer and sperm preservation options before and after cancer treatment. Sperm concentration of patients diagnosed with testicular cancer is lower than other cancer patients. In addition to that chemotherapy and radiotherapy negatively affect spermatogenesis. Radiotherapy have a much more deleterious effect on fertility compared with chemotherapy alone. However, after one year of chemotherapy or two years of radiotherapy, semen parameters may return to basal levels before cancer therapy. If the patient is azoospermic before any cancer specific treatment, testicular sperm extraction (TESE) for cryopreservation is an option at the time with orchiectomy operation. Sperm cryopreservation is still a gold standard to preserve fertility potential for cancer patients before the cancer specific treatments. Therefore, men diagnosed with testicular cancer should be encouraged to contact with infertility clinics to understand their fertility potentials and for sperm cryopreservation. (Bulletin of Urooncology 2014;13:176-181)