Is there any way to have children without banking sperms prior to surgery?

[Yongyuan Wang]

I'm curious about whether there ways that allow us to have children without banking sperms prior to surgery. In what way does LRP make a person infertile, and can current medical technology circumvent this problem? 

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

LRP cuts the vas deferens, the channel by which sperm reach the urethra. LRP also removes the prostate and seminal vesices, which produce the fluid for the semen. So while the testes may continue to make the sperm, there is no ejacuate and there are no sperm coming to the urethra.

 

Why would a patient heading for LRP who thinks he may want children one day not bank sperm, which is so easy to do?

[Yongyuan Wang]

Because it constitutes an added cost to the already expensive surgery, and some of the prostatitis patients may not have enough sperm count.

Have you had experience with patients who had done testicular sperm extraction for IVF after surgery?

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

True. There is an expense with sperm banking, but I suspect it's much less (and much less inconvenience; you just have to masturbate) than any other method of trying to retrieve sperm for fertiization.

 

I have no experience with patients who have done testicular sperm extraction for IVF after surgery. For any patient who is contemplating fathering after surgery, I would strongly advise banking sperm in advance.