VALUE OF CLINICAL-DIAGNOSIS IN PREDICTING THE QUALITY OF CRYOPRESERVED SPERM FROM CANCER-PATIENTS

Purpose: Cryopreservation of semen from patients with malignant diseas es (primarily testicular cancer, Hodgkin's disease and lymphoma) befor e specific chemotherapy, radiation or surgical therapy has become a re alistic option to preserve fertility. Nevertheless, the post-thaw sper m quality in these patients is poor. Whether the clinical diagnosis of malignancy affects the cryopreservation of human sperm is unknown. Su ch an association could allow post-thaw sperm quality to be predicted. Materials and Methods: We compared the effect of cryopreservation on sperm motility, velocity, linearity, amplitude of lateral head movemen t, motility index and motile sperm count in specimens from 30 normal m en, 34 with testicular cancer, 39 with Hodgkin's disease, and 19 with leukemia and lymphoma who were referred for sperm banking during a 5-y ear period. Results: The pre-freeze and post-thaw motility, motility i ndex and motile sperm count were significantly lower in all patients t han in normal men (p <0.01). No significant differences were noted amo ng the patient groups. Similarly, no significant differences were note d after cryopreservation. Our results indicate that the poor pre-freez e sperm quality in some patients with malignancies explains the poor p ost-thaw results. However, the deterioration in sperm function after c ryopreservation of semen among patients with different malignancies an d normal donors appears to be similar. Conclusions: Clinical diagnosis of malignancy is not an adequate predictor of the effect of cryoprese rvation on human semen.