Endocrine Abstracts

Childhood cancer survival rates have increased dramatically over recent decades and currently >80% of children with cancer will survive over the long-term. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of young adults experiencing late effects of treatment, including infertility. For girls, ovarian tissue cryopreservation and re-transplantation is an established method for fertility preservation and restoration. However, for prepubertal males due to receive gonadotoxic therapy there are currently no proven clinical options to preserve and restore fertility. Current approaches include removing testicular tissue from the patient prior to treatment for cryostorage and subsequent re-transplantation or in-vitro maturation of germ cells to generate sperm. Alternative approaches could involve co-administering treatments that can protect the testis from chemotherapy-induced damage. In 2015, the first UK clinical research programme to develop approaches to preserve fertility in prepubertal and adolescent males facing gonadotoxic therapies was established in Edinburgh. This session will discuss the current status of clinical research activity and describe a practical approach to fertility preservation in young males due to receive cancer treatment.