RECOVERY OF SPERMATOGENESIS FOLLOWING BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

Preparative regimens used in bone marrow transplantation usually resul t in impairment of male fertility. Although recovery of fertility is m ore likely after chemotherapy-based regimens, this is a rare occurrenc e after TBI containing regimens, We undertook a cross-sectional study of recovery of spermatogenesis in men who had undergone allogeneic and autologous marrow or peripheral stem cell transplant between 1984 and 1995. We identified six out of 42 patients eligible for analysis to h ave either recovered fertility or spermatogenesis. Seminal fluid analy sis showed that four out of 25 patients recovered sperm counts. This h as important implications for patient counselling, post-transplant fol low-up and contraceptive advice.