Edinburgh Doctors Perform the UK's First Frozen Testicular Tissue Transplant to Restore Fertility
NHS Lothian has transplanted frozen testicular tissue back into a 19-year-old whose fertility was damaged by treatment for a serious blood disorder. It is the first such operation in the UK and the second reported worldwide, and doctors will check in the coming months whether the tissue starts producing sperm.
HealthGNGV Editorial Team4 min readLast reviewed October 12, 2026
Doctors in Scotland have carried out the UK's first transplant of frozen testicular tissue, a procedure designed to give young people whose fertility is damaged by intensive treatment a chance of having children of their own. NHS Lothian performed the operation, building on more than a decade of research at the University of Edinburgh. It is only the second such transplant reported anywhere in the world.
The patient is a 19-year-old student who wishes to remain anonymous. In 2023, before a bone marrow transplant to treat a serious blood disorder, some of his testicular tissue was removed and frozen, because high-dose chemotherapy can permanently destroy the cells that make sperm. Three years after treatment, tests showed no sperm in his semen. In August 2026, doctors transplanted some of the stored tissue back into his body. He has recovered well and will be closely monitored; after eight months, part of the transplanted tissue will be removed and examined for signs of sperm production.
The approach matters most for children. Boys who have not reached puberty do not yet produce sperm, so freezing semen is not an option, and there is currently no established way to restore their fertility. Their testicular tissue, however, contains the stem cells that start making sperm at puberty. Earlier work in primates showed frozen tissue could be transplanted successfully and lead to a live birth, and earlier in 2026 a team in Belgium reported the first human case in which tissue frozen before puberty went on to produce mature sperm.
"This is a big step towards helping boys facing treatments that damage their fertility to have children of their own," said Rod Mitchell, Professor of Developmental Endocrinology at the university's Institute for Regeneration and Repair, who leads the study. The patient said: "We don't know yet whether it will work, but knowing that there is now even a possibility means more to me than I can really put into words."
The Edinburgh programme began with funding from the charity Children with Cancer UK in 2015 and has since become national. More than 1,200 patients in the UK and 3,100 worldwide now have testicular tissue stored for possible future use.
Why it matters
Boys treated for cancer and other serious illnesses before puberty currently have no proven way to preserve their fertility, so a working transplant method could change their futures.
Sources
What you can do
If a young person in your family faces chemotherapy, ask the care team early about fertility preservation options; you can also read more about the research at the University of Edinburgh.
