Practical aspects of sperm banking for cancer patients

Abstract

Semen storage is now routinely offered to men of reproductive age who are diagnosed with malignant disease and who require surgical or chemotherapeutic treatments that have a significant risk of leaving them sterile or subfertile. There is a perception by the public at large and professionals in the field that this is a routine and simple process. Yet, semen storage for such men requires a number of unique skills from a multidisciplinary team of oncologists, nurses, counsellors and scientists (andrologists or embryologists) in order to provide a quality service to the patient. All too often it is seen as ‘just another branch˚s of assisted conception treatment but there are sufficient unique issues for it to be considered a specialty in its own right. In the absence of professional guidelines to outline ‘best practice˚s, the British Andrology Society invited interested parties to attend a one-day workshop. This was designed as an interactive workshop for all those involved in the process of semen storage, be they clinicians, nurses, counsellors and scientific staff from either the disciplines of reproductive medicine or oncology. It was intended to examine the process of semen storage for such patients from the point of initial diagnosis, through the process of banking semen samples, to the point at which they are either used in treatment or are discarded. The programme was designed to promote maximum interaction between the speakers and the audience and between those from different specialties and disciplines so that they may learn from each other, developing and improving the service that is provided to these men.