Fertility Preservation in More than 7000 Male Patients: A Single-Center, Tertiary Care Registry Study over 30 Years

Andrea Graziani; Giuseppe Grande; Michel Martin; Donatella Sorio; Federica Finocchi; Sara Corrò; Nicola Passerin; Adriano Presciutti; Antonella Di Mambro; Riccardo Selice; Andrea Garolla; Alberto Ferlin

doi:10.3390/cancers17040689

Male Fertility · Male Factor Treatment

Fertility Preservation in More than 7000 Male Patients: A Single-Center, Tertiary Care Registry Study over 30 Years

Graziani A, Grande G, Martin M, Sorio D, Finocchi F, Corrò S, Passerin N, Presciutti A, Di Mambro A, Selice R, Garolla A, Ferlin A

Published February 18, 2025 Cancers

DOI 10.3390/cancers17040689 PMID 40002282 PMC PMC11852800

RRM Academy Synopsis

Men banking semen for infertility used it more than men with cancer

Among 7044 men who banked semen at one Italian center from 1991 to 2023, men with male factor infertility picked up their samples far more often than men with cancer. About 4 in 10 men with male factor infertility picked up their semen. Fewer than 1 in 10 men with cancer did. Pick-up was lowest in the youngest men.

Key Findings

Of 7044 men who banked semen between November 1991 and November 2023, 3400 (48.27%) had male factor infertility and 3262 (46.31%) had cancer.
Pick-up rates were 42.15% (1433/3400) for male factor infertility, 8.55% (279/3262) for cancer and 15.45% (59/382) for other reasons.
Pick-up was highest in men aged 35 to 40 at freezing (36.05%) and lowest in men under 20 (1.98%).
A total of 18.1% (1277/7044) chose to have samples destroyed: 20.4% (665/3262) with cancer and 14.9% (506/3400) with male factor infertility.

Interpretation

The registry belongs to one tertiary center in Padua, Italy, and looks back at men who froze semen from 1991 to 2023. Such data show associations between the reason for freezing, age and pick-up. Follow-up semen analyses, hormone results and pregnancy outcomes were not collected, and pre-pubertal patients are missing. The authors say the data may suggest that several men with cancer regained natural fertility and chose to discard samples. They conclude that indication, age and collection method might help predict later use.

RRM Context

The authors advise counseling on freezing only after a full workup for treatable causes of male factor infertility. The goal is to lower the share labeled unexplained. Restorative reproductive medicine shares the principle: evaluate the man first, as part of the couple.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

Background and Objectives

Semen cryopreservation has been widely used in recent decades, mainly in patients with male factor infertility (MFI) and patients with cancer (to preserve their fertility potential before undergoing gonadotoxic treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy).

Methods

we evaluated the temporal trend and the existence of factors determining the usage of cryopreserved semen (in order, for instance, to conceive using assisted reproduction techniques (ARTs)). We evaluated 7044 patients who cryopreserved since 1991, evaluating clinical information such as the diagnosis, age, the method with which the collection took place and the number of pick-ups for use in ART.

Results

The mean age of the patients was 33.12 ± 8.41 years. The most common cancers were testicular (1758/3262) and hematological cancers (942/3262). Patients who underwent cryopreservation for MFI picked up their samples much more than neoplastic patients (42.15% vs. 8.55%). Patients 35-40 years old picked up their samples more frequently when compared with other age groups. Moreover, we found several data regarding the sub-types of cancers and the methods of semen collection.

Conclusions

According to our results, the indication for semen cryopreservation, age and the method of collection might represent a simple way to predict the future use of semen for ART.

Topics

Male Fertility › Male Factor Treatment › Medical Management · Assisted Reproduction › Freezing and Storage › Egg Freezing

Andrea Graziani, Giuseppe Grande, Michel Martin, Donatella Sorio, Federica Finocchi, Sara Corrò, Nicola Passerin, Adriano Presciutti, Antonella Di Mambro, Riccardo Selice, Andrea Garolla, Alberto Ferlin

A Graziani, G Grande, M Martin, D Sorio, F Finocchi, S Corrò, N Passerin, A Presciutti, A Mambro, R Selice, A Garolla, A Ferlin

PMID 40002282 40002282 DOI 10.3390/cancers17040689 10.3390/cancers17040689 Graziani et al. 2025, Graziani 2025

Fertility Preservation in More than 7000 Male Patients: A Single-Center, Tertiary Care Registry Study over 30 Years

Men banking semen for infertility used it more than men with cancer

Key Findings

Interpretation

RRM Context

Abstract

Topics

By this author

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