Fertility preservation for boys and adolescents facing sterilizing medical therapy

Abstract

Improvements in childhood cancer survival have allowed boys and their families to increasingly focus on quality of life after therapy, particularly their future ability to father children. Treatments should maintain comprehensive cancer care goals and consider the long-term quality of life of these children. While semen cryopreservation is a well-established method of fertility preservation for post-pubertal children, the use of cryopreserved pre-treatment testicular tissue represents a promising, yet experimental method of fertility preservation for prepubertal males facing sterilizing therapy. Healthcare providers should counsel families about the fertility risks of therapy, discuss or refer patients for standard fertility preservation options, and consider experimental approaches to fertility preservation while being mindful of the ethical questions these treatments raise.

Keywords: Fertility preservation; boys; cancer; malignancy.