Sperm quality in lymphoma patients may be reduced even prior to initiation of chemotherapy. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between lymphoma prognostic factors and sperm quality prior to chemotherapy. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a Hadassah Medical Center sperm bank and the Hematology department. The cohort included 101 Hodgkin's and 90 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients that underwent sperm cryopreservation before chemotherapy between 1998 and 2015. Known lymphoma prognostic factors were compared between patients with normal and impaired sperm parameters. The Prognostic Score Ratio (PSR), an index representing the number of negative lymphoma prognostic measures that found in a lymphoma patient, was additionally calculated and compared between the groups. Among the prognostic factors of lymphoma, the following factors were found to be associated with impaired sperm parameters-low albumin (p < 0.001) and haemoglobin (p < 0.001) levels, B symptoms (p = 0.021) and PSR (p < 0.001). Logistic regression showed significant association of albumin and haemoglobin with reduced sperm quality (OR = 2.7 and OR = 13.5, p < 0.05; respectively). To conclude, low albumin and haemoglobin levels are related to reduced sperm quality. The linkage between these prognostic factors and sperm quality may be related to a general inflammatory status.
Keywords: lymphoma; prognostic factors; sperm cryopreservation; sperm parameters.
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