# Testicular tissue bank: ten years of testicular tissue cryopreservation in Croatia

## TL;DR

A testicular tissue bank in Croatia has helped preserve fertility for over 400 patients over 10 years.

## Contribution

The paper presents a decade-long analysis of testicular tissue cryopreservation practices and outcomes in Croatia.

## Key findings

- Testicular spermatozoa were found in 58% of patients, enabling ICSI procedures.
- Salvage TESE yielded different results in 36% of repeat attempts.
- 9% of patients were oncological cases seeking fertility preservation.

## Abstract

The Testicular Tissue Bank has been operating at the University Hospital Centre (UHC) Zagreb since 2013. It aims to cryopreserve testicular tissue from patients with azoospermia. If spermatozoa are found in the collected tissue, a combined procedure known as testicular sperm extraction (TESE)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is performed. During the last 10 years, our bank has deposited samples from 443 patients collected either by conventional TESE or microsurgical TESE procedure. Among them, 9% were from oncological patients whose samples were stored to preserve fertility. According to pathohistological analysis, 17% of patients were diagnosed with complete spermatogenesis or hypospermatogenesis, 11% with spermatogenic arrest, 48% with mixed atrophy of seminiferous tubules, and 24% with Sertoli cell-only phenotype or tubular fibrosis. Overall, the presence of testicular spermatozoa was found in 58% of patients, which makes them suitable for the ICSI procedure. In 21 out of 59 patients (36%) who underwent a salvage TESE, the outcome was different than that of the first spermatozoa retrieval attempt. Considering that the male factor is one of the leading causes of infertility, the results of Testicular Tissue Bank activity confirm its important role in improving the demographic picture of Croatia.