User:Alexiacochrane/sandbox

Indications
Cryopreservation of testicular tissue can be used to allow infertile males the option to have biological children. One cause of infertility in males is the medical treatment used to treat cancer (chemotherapy or radiotherapy), as it can have a toxic effect on the sperm producing tissue in the testes. For prepubertal boys undergoing cancer treatment who haven’t yet begun producing sperm, preservation of sperm itself is not an option. Instead, cryopreservation of testicular tissue prior to cancer treatment can be offered to preserve fertility. Later in life, if the affected individual decides they want biological children, their tissue can be retrieved from a tissue bank and re- implanted.

Another cause of male infertility is Klinefelter syndrome. This is a chromosomal abnormality (XY individual with extra X chromosomes) which causes germ cell loss early in life. Current research suggests that cryopreserving testicular tissue for prepubertal individuals can have promising results for using the tissue to produce sperm later in life, but is less likely to be effective if the testicular tissue is taken from older individuals.

In the future, cryopreservation of testicular tissue has the potential to be used to help transgender girls have children. Again, in a scenario where a transgender girl begins transitioning before spermarche (the beginning of sperm production, on average at 13.5 years), sperm producing tissue can be preserved instead. The sperm produced from this tissue can be used in artificial fertilisation. However, there have been no pregnancies yet reported using this method.