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

• Published in: Clinical and experimental reproductive medicine Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 196 - 201
• Main Authors: Kim, Seul Ki, Paik, Haerin, Lee, Jung Ryeol, Jee, Byung Chul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine 01.09.2022; 대한생식의학회
• Subjects: Original; 산부인과학
• ISSN: 2233-8233; 2233-8241
• DOI: 10.5653/cerm.2022.05323

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.