Importance and safety of autologous sperm cryopreservation for fertility preservation in young male patients with cancer.

With development of tumor treatment, survival time of patients with cancer is significantly prolonged. Therefore, the current emphasis is not only the survival, but also the quality of life, especially, it is crucial for young male cancer patients who are unmarried and maintaining fertility. However, the awareness of fertility preservation for these patients is currently insufficient.To give physician and cancer patients more clear understanding of the importance and safety of sperm cryopreservation, so that achieve patient fertility benefits.First, the knowledge level and attitudes about fertility preservation were investigated by surveying 332 cancer patients and 103 medical staff with questionnaires. Second, 30 male cancer patients (experimental group) and 30 normal donors (control group) were selected and their sperm samples were cryopreserved. The sperm quality was compared between cancer patients and normal donors, before and after antitumor treatment in the cancer patients, and before and after sperm cryopreservation in both groups.In the questionnaire survey, we found that there were 70% to 80% of medical staffs and cancer patients lacked knowledge of fertility preservation, and 27.7% of patients worried that tumor and sperm cryopreservation might affect their offspring. In the sperm preservative experiment, we found that sperm quality in cancer patients was further damaged after radiotherapy/chemotherapy in addition to tumor itself had a negative effect. However, sperm deoxyribonucleic acid fragments were not affected by sperm cryopreservation although there were significant differences in sperm quality before and after sperm preservation in both groups.Radiotherapy/chemotherapy would further damage sperm quality of young male cancer patients. Medical staff should be aware of importance of sperm cryopreservation for fertility preservation for these patients. It is also necessary that medical staff should inform the patient about the safety of sperm freezing and guide the patient to participate in sperm cryopreservation.

The Knowledge, Attitude, and Self-Reported Behaviors of Oncology Physicians Regarding Fertility Preservation in Adult Cancer Patients.

There is a growing concern about the fertility preservation for adult cancer patients of reproductive age. Very little literature exists about fertility preservation of cancer survivors in Chinese text. This study is first to describe the knowledge level, attitude, and practice behaviors among physicians concerning fertility preservation in adult cancer patients in China. A cross-sectional survey with 30-item was conducted to assess Chinese oncology physicians' knowledge, attitude, and behaviors regarding fertility issues. Of 360 oncology physicians, 206 (57.2%) submitted valid questionnaires. With possible overall scores for knowledge and attitude of 9 and 15, respectively, physicians' responses to the questionnaires were 3.91 ± 1.67 and 12.29 ± 1.23. Only 49.5% of physicians routinely informed their cancer patients of childbearing age about the risk of infertility with cancer treatment. The knowledge score of the men physicians was 2-fold that of the women. Physicians aged 20-29 years were significantly more likely than other age groups to prioritize cancer treatment over fertility concerns. Men physicians were significantly more comfortable than the women discussing fertility preservation issues and cooperating with fertility specialists. The oncology physicians in China had limited knowledge of fertility preservation and rarely discussed these issues with their patients, although their attitude was positive. Results suggest that oncology physicians would welcome an in-house fertility-related training program. KEY MESSAGES: This is the first study to address the topic of fertility preservation as it relates to the care that oncologists provide to cancer patients in China. These results revealed the importance of providing fertility-related training program to oncology physicians. Moreover, this study should provide useful information for other Asian countries, and highlight both the similarities and differences between China and Western countries concerning the reproductive rights of patients. This study should encourage international cooperation with institutions of scientific research and education.