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Testicular function among testicular cancer survivors treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy

  • Original Article
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Reproductive Medicine and Biology

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of our study was to identify the clinical predictors of spermatogenesis recovery in testicular cancer (TC) patients after chemotherapy and to determine the recuperation period for spermatogenesis.

Methods

Patients treated for TC from January 1982 to November 2001 at Chiba University Hospital were retrospectively assessed. Thirty-five patients who met the following criteria were examined—(i) underwent both high orchiectomy and cisplatin-based chemotherapy; (ii) had semen analyses and hormonal measurements; and (iii) were alive with no evidence of disease. Clinical variables associated with normalization of spermatogenesis after chemotherapy were examined. Time to recover normospermia was also evaluated using Kaplan–Meier analysis.

Results

The observation period was 13.3 ± 5.6 years. Reappearance of sperm was confirmed in 85.7 % of patients, and 54.3 % of patients recovered normospermia. Age at diagnosis <25 years (p = 0.0057), number of chemotherapy cycles <4 cycles (p = 0.0042), and follicle-stimulating hormone at the end of chemotherapy <18 mIU/ml (p = 0.0220) were independent factors related to post-chemotherapy normalization of semen findings. The median (95 % CI) time to recover normospermia was 40 (range 22–96) months.

Conclusions

These findings help to predict whether spermatogenesis will recover and its timing. They may also help clinicians identify and manage TC patients at a higher risk of prolonged azoospermia after chemotherapy.

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Acknowledgments

There was no financial support for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana-cho, Chuo-ku, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan

    Takeshi Namekawa, Takashi Imamoto, Mayuko Kato, Tomokazu Sazuka, Miki Fuse, Shinichi Sakamoto, Koji Kawamura & Tomohiko Ichikawa

Authors
  1. Takeshi Namekawa
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  2. Takashi Imamoto
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  3. Mayuko Kato
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  4. Tomokazu Sazuka
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  5. Miki Fuse
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  6. Shinichi Sakamoto
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  7. Koji Kawamura
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  8. Tomohiko Ichikawa
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Correspondence to Takeshi Namekawa.

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Conflict of interest

Takeshi Namekawa, Takashi Imamoto, Tomokazu Sazuka, Miki Fuse, Shinichi Sakamoto, Koji Kawamura, and Tomohiko Ichikawa declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human rights statements and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its later amendments. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Animal studies

This article does not contain any studies with animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Namekawa, T., Imamoto, T., Kato, M. et al. Testicular function among testicular cancer survivors treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Reprod Med Biol 15, 175–181 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12522-015-0232-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12522-015-0232-6

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