A question about testicle transplant

Theoretically testicle transplant from another donor is possible but it still hasn’t been tried on humans because it wouldn’t make any sense to do it. Spermatozoids carry genetic information that they got from germ cells of the testicle, so even if you would get someone to donate you a testicle and even if that transplant were successful the sperms that the transplanted testicle would produce wouldn’t be genetically yours and so wouldn’t the children. They would be genetically donors children. Still there is a procedure that is called testicle transplant although it is not quite like that. The procedure involves taking testicular tissue from men suffering from cancer or some other disease, freezing that tissue and returning it to the testicles of that man later on in the future. It is used to treat men with testicular cancer who have to go to chemotherapy, which would destroy their ability to have children, to prevent that a tissue sample is taken and frozen. Later when the chemotherapy is over the tissue is being returned to the donor and testicular germ cells repopulate the testicle returning the fertility of the man. In your case there is no need for any kind of a transplant since one testicle can make up for the missing of the other producing more sperm and testosterone and testicular prosthesis can replace the missing testicle if you have a problem with not having a testicle in your scrotum.

It is unfortunate the experts on this site fail to realize there are people who have experienced very real psychological effects of only having one testicle. Saying "it makes no sense" to even consider the option of considering testicular transplants is not only narrow thinking but baseless. They fail to realize that not all men want to have children.
Even if the recipient wants to father children, there are proven and approved methods to extract the sperm from the patient's own testicle. Yes, the reasons can be simply cosmetic, but if the documented studies do indeed show there can be psychological effects regarding one's self image, the procedure is possible, so what is the issue of not investigating this very real possibility further.
Unless you've had this happen to you, you simply cannot fully understand. Lets begin to think outside the box and have some awareness and sensitivity to those of us in this situation.

Heavy, heavy and very delicate surgery. I am not saying that this is not possible, it is. It can be successful as well, but it has so many side - effects and complications as well. So basically, a transplantation of testis from a different donor has many technical issues. For example, if you want someone else’s testis to produce sperms in your body, why not take his sperms for fertilization instead as a donor, you know what I mean. I don't know also how your body can accept it. There are so many questions and so little answers. I don't know will you have a healthy sperm as well after this surgery. 

I have had a testicle removed due to testicular cancer (about 10 years ago now). I have no interest in having children. Yet I would still love to have my missing one replaced with a functioning one, regardless of who it came from. While a single testicle is all that is required to be fertile, I believe certain sexual acts would be easier and better with two.

Believe it or not, I have lost both of my testicles from two seperate types of cancer, 16 years apart. I lost the first one at 28 years old to semanoma and the other at 44 years old to germ cell cancer.

Having children is not of concern for me personally. I had two in between the cancers and actually had a vasectomy.

I maintained a very active sex drive with the one testicle, but now without the other, my drive is only supported by receiving testosterone injections every two weeks. My sex drive is tepid at best.

I still have a prostate and can ejaculate, but I truly desire more of a sex drive without having to get injections of testosterone for the rest of my life.

I was wondering if a tesicular transplant would create the testostrone that I need to provide me with a normal sex drive again.

I am currently 46 but have a 29 year old wife!! Hence the desire to stay sexually active.

when i met my boyfriend he was afraid to get naked with me. i had no idea why until he told me that he had a problem and had one of his testicles removed. it had disturbed him for years. he went through a divorce and felt as though he'd never date anyone again. he looked into a transplant but decided not to. now that he met me he realizes that its not a big deal. i love all of him, and don't judge because he only has one. i am a lot younger than him...15 years. now we are married and having our first child together, something that he never thought would be possible. just want to tell everyone to keep your head up...there are people out there that would never judge you.

I think the point is that this is a new field and a new area of exploration.

Most of the contributors on these threads are NOT experts.
--Just as it says under your name or handle, it says "Newbie"..

I agree that the purpose of such a transplant at first escaped me.

However, I know that there are silicone and liquid implants occurring for those who need the sense that they have a testicle or something in their scrotum.

I'm sure there are OTHER reasons for wanting a transplant, but I'm not familiar enough with the subject to comment.

**Since writing the above response, I received a withering blast from an anonymous poster who claims it is very insensitive to state that there is only one psychological reason for wanting an implant. I'm a bit at a loss to understand WHY this person is SO angry and unwilling to post ...or to add to the discussion... but they privately chose to threaten a lawsuit if "we didn't stop this" practice. (I'm not clear what "this practice" is, but they clearly have issues and the topic of hormone replacement is a sore spot for them.)

So, if anyone took offense and my posting, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to belittle anyone, except to point out that this is a new field, and that I'VE never heard of a testicle transplant. My coworker had a silicone implant after his cancer experience, and was the source of my information.)

PS: If ANYONE wants to post and have "the last word" as the anonymous critic states, they are welcome to try. We have no control over WHO posts and in what order. It just so happens that I cruise through routinely, and attempt to add my 2 cents worth. YOUR 2 CENTS ARE WELCOME ALSO!

Hi, Im very much an advocate of the information above-I must say Ive been searching the web for quite some time now an this is the first logical sentence regarding loss of testicles Ive ever seen on all the web sites Ive search(innumerable).It's great to know there are people who feel the same way and a web site that allows to talk freely on this issue. Hensonj is right, were right. The testicles are the most powerful organ the body posseses,lets do alittle math;if 2 testicles produce 100% of the body's testosterone and one testicle is subtracted how much tesosterone will the body now produce,half its original amount which is NOT normal. I say this simply because it is not acceptable to allow these rude and niave doctors and people you may or may not know and web sites to say that having one testice is the same as having two when in fact and evidence its not. Actually a man with two testicles as opposed to a person with less will have higher blood pressure and more blood flow to the heart and brain which improves homeostatic functions trigger the fight response rather than flight and giver him an unfair advantage in sports and situations when the ego is on the line. Testosterone is composed of steroids, this is why people with zero testicles need HRT(btw why is it called that when hormones are be added not replaced),and this is why it is cheating to use more steroids than the two testicles produce;so if with two testicle's the body produces 100% testosterone and with zero the body produces none, then where the hell did the notion arise that with one testicle the body also produces 100% testosterone-it's not true and not justified. A person with one is a an unfair advantage not only in sports but in the homeostatic functions of life. This post is really for the the people who have suffered with loss of testicles and hormones, I didn't want to make it like Im talking to elementary students but theres always someone who gets on the forums and makes a comment on something that hasn't to them and doesn't understand-If you wanna talk more about the prospects of transplantation for the all of us then I would love to(Im not sure if they let us give email address or not),remember, don't let anyone tell you that your normal, because your not, not yet but if we stick together and keep hoping then we will be able to find the strength to get the very possible operations weve been searching for our whole lives

Seems to me the biggest risk of this surgery is not who is the "father" of the child. Could this lead to athletes, women in particular, getting an extra natural testosterone boost?

What is needed is for a group of serious men to get together, for an association or lobby group to advocate for research and action on this important topic. I cannot understand why doctors in America do not take this matter seriously. Nor the medical journalists. One of my co-workers wrote to all the "star" medical journalists on TV and in big newspapers suggesting that the loss of testicular function through cancer or through cancer treatment with high dosage chemo, is something to be taken seriously, and that the autologus ovarian and testicular tissue transplants being done in some European countries should be done on this continent. No one even bother to respond, though he is a distinguished professional. The drug companies of course are not interested. They would sell less Erectile Dysfunction drugs that make them billions. So I say to fellow believers in Democracy and People Direct Action, stop being sheep. Form something like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and act. The New York Times had a stupid article by a Canadian guy on "what fun it was to be a Eunuch" after Prostate treatment disabled his balls. Well one of my relatives had that experience and it is no fun. It has changed his personality for the worse, and even his body shape. This sort of thing destroys families. Now that the anti-stem cell research Bush administration is history, people should write and telephone their Congressmen and Senators, both State and Federal to get research started in the USA on Ovarian and Testicular Tissue Stem Cell Transplant Research. And Feminist groups should get involved also.

My younger brother had both of his testicles removed when he was about 6 years old. He is now 19 and takes the hormone replacement shots. I am curious, since we're brothers, if I could donate to him one of my testicles to make it possible for him to have children if he so decided in the future. He was given implants years ago for aesthetic purposes but has communicated to me that his inability to reproduce bothers him. Any thoughts?

Schimek, that is not true. Testicular transplants from both human and animal donors have been done, most having been done from the 1940s-1960s. The transplants were considered successful, but the practice fell out of favor once testosterone and other anabolic steroids became more widely available and the preferred method of HRT. BTW, CBeats989, it is called HRT because they are 'replacing' the production of hormone, i.e., if your T level was 600 before whatever precipitated the hypogonadism, and now it's 200, you replace the missing 400 to bring it back to the initial 600. So yes, you are adding hormone, but it's not adding something that wasn't already there and/or shouldn't have been there.

Personally, I'd love to graft on some horse testicles from a donor stallion. I don't advocate gelding, but if someone else is going to geld their stallion no matter what and just discard their testicles, I may as well put them to good use. Can you imagine how big you'd get?

I'm 44 years old and was born without them. I've also have exploratory surgery and I mist tell with a low testosterone count and no kids, let me tell you is anyone have any data on updated procedures, it would be greatly appreciated. The cost of adoption are outrageous and the sticking a patch on myself every day is no good. Thanks

There is another situation where a true testicular transplant would be feasible. What if a brother donates a testicle to his sibling. This way the genetic makeup is similar. Better yet if the donor is an identical twin, the genetic makeup should be the same.