Dr. Smith: Restoring Fertility in Males

Dr. Smith, a reproductive urologist at UCSF, educated us on the impact of cancer treatment on male fertility and the growing need for male oncofertility treatments as childhood cancer survival rates continues to increase. As has been a theme today, Dr. Smith reviewed how alkylating agents are associated with the highest risk of azoospermia. He then reviewed fertility preservation options, including current recommendations for referral to a specialist, sperm cryopreservation for post-pubertal males and/or testicular sperm extraction followed by IUI or IVF with or without ICSI. Dr. Smith concluded with a review of fertility preservation options in prepubertal boys: autologous spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and in vitro maturation of spermatogonia, both of which are experimental.