%0 Journal Article
%T Twenty-year oncology sperm banking experience at a Canadian academic fertility centre: a retrospective study examining the usage and reproductive outcomes from oncology patients.
%A Chen T
%A Hamilton S
%A Liu KE
%J BMJ Open
%V 14
%N 8
%D 2024 Aug 13
%M 39142683
%F 3.006
%R 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-088112
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Many cancer treatments pose a threat to fertility for patients. Semen cryopreservation before cancer treatment is an effective method to preserve fertility. There are sparse long-term data on the usage of samples from Canadian oncology sperm banks.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>A retrospective chart review of all oncology sperm banking samples at a Canadian academic fertility centre from 2001 to 2020 was conducted.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>From 2001 to 2020, 4521 samples were banked by 2504 patients. The most frequent diagnoses among these patients were testicular cancer (29.5%) and lymphoma (26.9%). Of these patients, only 81 (3.2%) patients returned to use their samples with intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment and 62 (2.5%) patients transferred their samples to another clinic. The time between banking and return for usage of the sperm ranged from 1 to 131 months with a median of 18 months after banking. A total of 66 IVF cycles (104 embryo transfers) and 101 IUI cycles from 67 patients were reviewed. Of the 67 couples who used their samples, 53.7% achieved a clinical pregnancy. The clinical pregnancy rate was 6.6% per cycle for IUI and 30.8% per embryo transfer for IVF. Higher sperm concentration or total motile count was not associated with a higher chance of pregnancy. Patients who conceived had on average 1.9 ± 0.8 (p=0.02) more usable embryos per cycle than those who did not conceive.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Sperm cryopreservation provides a valuable option for patients with cancer to achieve parenthood after potentially gonadotoxic cancer treatment. However, the overall usage of banked oncology sperm samples is very low.