Effects of cancer on spermatozoa quality after cryopreservation: a 12-year experience.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether type of cancer and response to treatment was related to prefreeze or post-thaw semen quality and to predict post-thaw sperm motility from prefreeze motility.

DESIGN

Retrospective study.

SETTING

Tertiary care institution.

PATIENT(S): One hundred six cancer patients cryopreserving their semen specimens.

INTERVENTION(S): Computer-assisted semen analysis was performed before and after cryopreservation on each patient specimen.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The relationship of sperm motility and motion characteristics to type of cancer and patient's response to treatment.

RESULT(S): Prefreeze and post-thaw semen quality did not differ between patients presenting with testicular cancer and Hodgkin's disease. Patients with leukemia or advanced soft tissue cancer had a higher prefreeze and post-thaw motility and higher total and motile sperm count than testicular and Hodgkin's disease patients. A prefreeze sperm motility of > or = 15% could predict a post-thaw motility of > 10%.

CONCLUSION(S): Prefreeze or post-thaw semen quality in cancer patients is not affected (except the prefreeze motile sperm count within the testicular cancer patients) by the type of disease. Prefreeze motility can predict post-thaw motility. Cryopreservation of semen should be offered to cancer patients irrespective of the type of disease.