Semen storage for special purposes at Monash IVF from 1977 to 1997

Objective: To review 20 years of experience with sperm storage before vasectomy or before chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy (medical storage), and to evaluate its usefulness. Design: Retrospective data analysis. Setting: University-affiliated reproductive medicine clinic. Patient(s): Two hundred fifty-six men who underwent vasectomy and 258 men who underwent chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. Intervention(s): Review of patient clinical notes. Main Outcome Measure(s): The subsequent use of cryostored sperm and the number of pregnancies that resulted. Result(s): Only 4 of the 256 men who underwent vasectomy returned for treatment, and three pregnancies were achieved. Eighteen of the 258 men who underwent chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy returned for treatment, and six pregnancies were achieved. Conclusion(s): Only a small proportion of men (2%) returned to use their cryostored specimens after vasectomy, and pregnancy was achieved in most cases. Seven percent of men returned to use their specimens after chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, and pregnancy was achieved in only one third of cases. (Fertil Steril(R) 1999;72:179-81. (C) 1999 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)