Belgian doctors help man produce sperm from frozen childhood tissue
Technology
Here's some genuinely good news: Belgian doctors have helped a man make sperm using testicular tissue that was frozen when he was just a kid.
He'd lost his fertility after chemotherapy for sickle cell disease back in 2008, but doctors saved small pieces of his testicular tissue before treatment.
Technique could help boys facing cancer
16 years later, the team thawed and grafted those tissue pieces back, and about a year later, they actually kickstarted sperm production.
This is a big deal for young boys facing cancer, since they can't freeze sperm like adults; this technique could give them a real shot at having biological kids someday.
Over 3,000 boys worldwide have stored testicular tissue since 2002, but this is the first clear proof it can work in humans.