DOCTORS have frozen sperm stem cells from a three-month-old baby so that he can father children when he is older.

The infant is undergoing cancer treatment that is likely to leave him infertile. His parents hope that once he reaches adulthood, doctors will transplant the stem cells back to allow him to produce sperm.

The breakthrough in America could give the infant the chance to have a family, but raises ethical questions because a baby is unable to give consent to such a procedure.

Until now, doctors in Britain and America have offered fertility treatment to boys only once they reach puberty, when they are first able to provide a sperm sample which is frozen for later use.

However, doctors now believe they can act much earlier by removing the stem cells which make sperm. The cells are present in babies from birth, but are relatively few in number so scientists are developing techniques to encourage the cells to multiply in the laboratory.

They plan to transplant the cells back into the boys when they reach adulthood or even stimulate the cells to develop into sperm in the laboratory, allowing patients to go through routine IVF treatment later.

Doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have offered the treatment to the parents of young boys who are likely to be left infertile from radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The parents have been advised that the treatment is still at an experimental stage and there are no guarantees of success.

Dr Jill Ginsberg, a paediatric oncologist at the hospital, said: “Over the past year we have done testicular biopsies on about 12 boys. They are as young as a few months to 11 years. The youngest boy was three months.

“We do not approach the families of every little boy – only if we’re fairly certain the [cancer] treatment is going to leave them infertile. We’re hopeful because science advances so quickly, but we can’t make any promises. It’s just an option that’s never been available before.”

Ginsberg added that taking biopsies from the testicles, which contain the sperm stem cells, does not cause any harm to the infants.

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