Testicular tissue cryopreservation

Testicle tissue freezing in Kiev

Every year, the number of infertile couples with a male factor in infertility is growing in the world, as well as the number of men who have various oncological diseases. In view of this, quite often there is a need to preserve biomaterial for the possibility of having a baby in the future.

Quite often, doctors resort to the use of modern cryotechnology for cryopreservation of testicular tissue.

Without going into details, we can say that cryopreservation of testicular tissue is a procedure during which the extracted male germ cells and tissues (usually surgically) are frozen for future use.

As a rule, this procedure is carried out if:

- the man will have serious treatment for cancer (including testicular cancer) with chemotherapy drugs that have a negative effect on fertility;

- a married couple who is diagnosed with infertility plans treatment using assisted reproduction methods (IVF, ICSI, etc.). The process of tissue sampling of male reproductive organs is performed exclusively with the consent of the patient.

The cryopreservation procedure itself is as follows:

1. A biopsy of testicular tissue is performed.

2. The obtained biomaterial is checked for suitability for further use by identifying potential “sperm candidates” that can be used in the process of fertilization.

3. The obtained tissues and cells are separated into several different containers (to exclude damage to all biomaterial under force majeure circumstances).

4. Tissues and cells are instantly frozen in liquid nitrogen, the temperature of which is, on average, minus 196 degrees.

Despite the fact that cryopreservation of testicular tissue opens up great opportunities for maintaining high-quality biomaterial that can be used in the future to conceive a child, this method has its drawbacks.

If a cancer is detected in the reproductive organs of a man, during the biopsy, material can be obtained in which the cancer is hiding. That is why, before using the biomaterial obtained from an oncological patient, specialists first conduct a thorough study of it and assess the condition of the sperm obtained.