Edinburgh doctors perform 1st testicular tissue transplant on UK teenager
A 19-year-old in the UK just became the first testicular tissue transplant on a teenager in the UK, after treatment for a serious blood disorder.
Doctors in Edinburgh re-implanted tissue that had been removed and frozen three years ago, hoping it will help him produce sperm.
Transplant could help 1,200+ UK patients
This breakthrough, backed by funding from Children with Cancer UK and following a decade of research by the University of Edinburgh, could give new hope to boys who can't freeze sperm before treatment.
The transplanted tissue contains special cells needed for future sperm production.
Results are expected soon, and if successful, this could open up fertility options for more than 1,200 young patients in the UK.
As Rod Mitchell, professor of developmental endocrinology at Edinburgh's Institute for Regeneration and Repair, and a consultant pediatric endocrinologist at NHS Lothian, put it, "This is a big step toward helping boys facing treatments that damage their fertility to have children of their own."