שימור הפוריות בילדים וגברים מבוגרים - גישות טיפוליות חדשות

As treatment regimens for pediatric oncologic malignancies have improved, more and more survivors are entering their reproductive years. Since gonadal damage is a relatively common and unfortunate consequence of the treatments used to cure pediatric cancer, maintenance of fertility is extremely important with regard to long-term quality of life for these survivors. Developments in the area of sperm banking and reproductive technologies have made it possible to offer viable options to preserve fertility to pubertal males undergoing cancer therapy. Although the prepubertal testis does not produce mature spermatozoa, it does contain the diploid stem-germ cells from which haploid spermatozoa will be derived. For these at risk prepubertal boys, as well as for pubertal boys who may not be able to sperm bank, a recent and encouraging approach is the use of cryopreserved testicular tissue. Research with animal models has demonstrated that there are several methods to use germ cells to obtain mature spermatozoa for fertilization including autotransplantation, and xenotransplantation8. While important strides have been made in animal research in this area, the use of testicular tissue cryopreservation in humans remains experimental.