Spermatogonial stem cell autotransplantation: towards clinical application

In the last three decades, due to progression in diagnosis and treatment of several types of cancer, survival rate in cancer patients increased tremendously. However, long-term adverse effects of cancer treatments influence negatively quality of life in these cancer survivors. One of the most important side-effects is sterility because of gonadotoxic effect of cancer treatment on testis and ovary. In the twenty-first century, fertility preservation has become a very prominent area of interest in reproductive medicine and oncology. This book - in 7 chapters - not only review the last 35 years of literature about gonadotoxic effects of cancer treatments on semen quality and the effectiveness of current techniques to restore fertility in male cancer survivors, but also reports the results of our last 5 years of researches towards the clinical application of a novel procedure to restore fertility in male cancer survivors, i.e. spermatogonial stem cell autotransplantation.