Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-27T18:55:11.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 16 - Cryopreservation and transplantation of testicular tissue

from Section 4 - Fertility preservation strategies in the male

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Jacques Donnez
Affiliation:
Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
S. Samuel Kim
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Get access

Summary

Loss of fertility in adult life is a major psychologically traumatic consequence of cancer treatment. Improving therapeutic regimens using less gonadotoxic protocols could enable spontaneous recovery of spermatogenesis, but their use is not always possible without compromising patient survival. Cryopreservation of testicular tissue pieces may be considered as an alternative method capable of maintaining cell-to-cell contacts between Sertoli and germinal stem cells, and therefore preserving the stem cell niche necessary for their survival and subsequent maturation. In humans, preclinical in vitro studies using cadaver or surgically removed testes have demonstrated the feasibility of transplanting germ cell suspensions into testes. The first convincing demonstration of human testis transplantation was reported in 1978. The most important, life-threatening concern of spermatogonial transplantation is the risk of reintroducing malignant cells. Providing young people undergoing gonadotoxic treatment with adequate fertility preservation strategies is a challenging area of reproductive medicine.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×