At this year’s 2010 national American Urologic Association’s meeting in San Francisco, California, Cassidy et al. from Toronto Canada looked back at all the male patients at their institution that had underwent radiologic treatment for varicoceles (dilated veins in the scrotum that can hinder the testicles ability to make sperm and testosterone). The varicoceles were treated by embolization (where the major blood vessels in your body are accessed via a small skin puncture, and the blood vessels causing the varicoceles are blocked off using metal coils or clogging agents). They found that the success rate for treating left-sided varicoceles (97%) was comparable to microsurgical varicocele ligations whereas the embolization of right-sided varicoceles had a much higher failure rate of 13%.
Bottomline: If the hospital near you has radiologic specialists who can do these embolizations, it is a treatment option that is comparable to microsurgical varicocele ligations. If you have bilateral varicoceles or a right-sided varicocele, you may be better served by having the microsurgical repair since the embolizations don’t work as well for the right side. As always, consult your male fertility doctor to learn what he is most comfortable with at your medical institution. -082010

At this year's 2010 national American Urologic Association's meeting in San Francisco, California, Ragheb et al. from Cleveland, Ohio analyzed the cryopreserved sperm samples of 34 men with cancer (such as testicular cancer, Hodgkin's disease and Non-Hodgkin's disease) and found that their sperm had higher levels of DNA damage as compared to healthy normal men (39% vs 27%).
Bottomline: This concept of assessing sperm DNA damage before cancer therapy may provide a useful tool to assess whether the level of sperm DNA damage after cancer therapy has returned to a man's baseline levels to help counsel men about post-therapy fertility potential. -81310

At this year's 2010 national American Urologic Association's meeting in San Francisco, California, Wagner et al. from Madison, Wisconsin lectured their institution's cancer doctors for one hour on sperm freezing ("cryopreservation") and found the rates of sperm freezing for young men with cancer went up 370% afterwards.
Bottomline: Education is a wonderful thing...not only for patients but also for their doctors. Male fertility specialists need to continue playing a key role in empowering oncologists with education so that they can help their young men with cancer make solid decisions about whether cryopreservation should be done before cancer therapy is started.

At this year's 2010 national American Urologic Association's meeting in San Francisco, Kelvin et al. surveyed urological cancer physicians and nurses from their institution in New York, New York about their perception of talking about fertility preservation (FP) with their patients. While 98% agreed that all should be informed of FP options, only 31% felt they had received the proper training to do so & 52% did not feel they had the necessary resources to educate the patients.
Bottomline: If you have been recently diagnosed with cancer and hope to preserve your fertility potential, make sure you bring this issue up with your cancer doc. Sperm cryopreservation ("freezing sperm") may be an option for you. If your cancer doc isn't sure about your options, make an appointment with your nearest male fertility specialist.

At this year's 2010 national American Urologic Association's meeting in San Francisco, Toren et al. from Toronto, Canada identified 38 men with small <1cm accidentally found testicular masses that were followed by ultrasounds. The vast majority of masses only grew on average by 1/2 a millimeter per year (That's pretty minimal). Eight men chose to have their masses removed based on personal choice or faster growth of the mass. Only 1 of the 8 proved to be a cancer, and it was successfully treated.
Bottomline: If your male fertility doc finds a small (<1 centimeter) mass on your testicle by accident during an ultrasound test, don't reflexively panic!. Talk to your doc first! Based on these data, most of these incidental testicular masses can be followed safely with ultrasounds. Moreover, the vast majority did not grow significantly over time, and most men did not need surgery (And even if they did, the vast majority were NOT cancers!). Obviously, every testicular mass is not the same so make sure you receive a proper medical evaluation from your doctor before making any final decisions.