Clin Exp Reprod Med.  2022 Sep;49(3):196-201. 10.5653/cerm.2022.05323.

Sperm DNA fragmentation in consecutive ejaculates from patients with cancer for sperm cryopreservation

• Kim SK
• Paik H
• Lee JR
• Jee BC

• KMID: 2540229
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5653/cerm.2022.05323

Abstract

Objective
This prospective consecutive study investigated the variation in sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) in multiple semen samples from patients with cancer.
Methods
Eighty-one patients with various cancers underwent multiple semen collections on 3 consecutive days for sperm cryopreservation prior to cancer treatment. A commercial Halosperm kit was used to measure SDF. Within- and between-subject coefficients of variation were estimated via random-effects analysis of variance to assess the consistency of semen parameters and SDF. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to assess the magnitude of the between-subject component of variance relative to the total variance.
Results
The volume of semen in the day-2 and day-3 samples was significantly lower compared with the day-1 sample. Most parameters showed high ICC values, suggesting that within-subject fluctuations were small relative to the between-subject variability. The highest ICC values were identified for the SDF (ICC, 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.45–0.84) and semen volume (ICC, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.45–0.84).
Conclusion
Our findings showed that repeated ejaculates from patients with cancer had stable SDF levels.

Keyword

Cryopreservation; DNA fragmentation; Fertility preservation; Semen analysis; Sperm