Medical Fertility Preservation for Men. If you need to have treatment for cancer that may affect your fertility, there are options available to ensure you can still have children in the future.
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can effect your sperm production- sometimes this is temporary but in other cases it may be permanent.Once your treatment begins, it may be too late to collect and preserve your sperm as it may already carry genetic damage.So, we strongly recommend you contact our Andrology Unit before commencing cancer treatment
Before you begin chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment, some of your semen, containing sperm, can be frozen and kept until you wish to start a family. Men who have to travel overseas or work in dangerous situations may also want to have their sperm frozen for use in the future.
We collect samples in a private room in the Andrology unit, so our andrologist can prepare and freeze the sperms as soon as possible before they die. It is also possible for you to collect the semen in your own home during sex, using a special non-toxic condom. If you are unable to collect semen or if there are no sperm in the semen, due to illness, we may be able to collect sperm directly from your testicles using a needle.This is called a testicular biopsy, and is performed in a day surgery under general anaesthetic.We can then use this sperm later in ICSI treatment.
Once the sperm is collected, it is mixed with a spermfreezing solution and the temperature is gradually reduced. About 25% -50% of the sperm will survive the process of freezing, and they can be stored for many years. There is an initial freezing fee and yearly fee (billed every six months) for sperm storage.
