Nowdays, the younger generation are taking time before getting married and have the tendency to have kids at an older age. Therefore, family planning for future kids is important. Women freeze their eggs and men should freeze and store their sperm as well to reduce risks and increase the success in having children in the future.

 

In Thailand, statistics from the Ministry of Public Health found that there are more male cancer patients than female patients whereas the 5 most common types of cancers in Thai male patients are liver cancer, bile duct, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma. Hence sperm freezing would be important for those who plan to start a family in the future.

 

The Sperm cryoperservation in male is not popular as the oocyte cryopreservation. Because sperm

production can continue even with older age. While egg counts decline as women age, so does the quality. However,

 

Sperm freezing becomes important as men age, their sperm quality tends to decrease including

sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm morphology and sperm DNA fragmentation that will affect the likelihood of future fertility.

 

In addition to age, men who are being treated for various diseases with medications, chemicals, radiation or surgery that affects the reproductive system can cause infertility. Sperm freezing would therefore be a good option to preserve good quality sperm before the treatment of that disease such as cancer patients. The cancer cell themselves may destroy the sperm reproduction process (Spermatogenesis) from the early stages of cancer. Some cases, the sperm count decreases. In other serious cases, no sperm can be detected at all (Azoospermia) and when treated with chemotherapy, the chemicals will inhibit the growth and formation of sperm and other cellular growths of the body such as the blood circulatory system. After a full recovery, there are only 20-50% of patients that the reproductive system would be restored to normal. This also depends on the type of cancer they have.