**Cystic Fibrosis and Fertility**

Rosaria Casciaro, Federico Cresta, Federica Favilli and Laura Minicucci

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/60616

#### **Abstract**

In the last 20 years, the prognosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) has slightly increased and nowadays more than 50% of CF patients are adults. An obvious consequence of this deep change is the increasing question about fertility in both males and females.

Almost 97% of male CF patients are infertile, having significant anatomical abnor‐ malities of the reproductive tract, in most cases a congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD); even if anatomical defect plays an important role, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is directly involved in many aspects of male reproduction, with well-known consequences in spermatozoa capacitation and bicarbonate secretion.

Actually, male CF patients can become parents with assisted fertilization techniques: intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), currently the most used fertilization treatment worldwide, has dramatically improved the assisted reproduction outcomes for men with obstructive azoospermia.

Most CF women have a normal reproductive tract and may be able to conceive spontaneously, but multifactorial fertility problems can affect them also: the main cause could be the difficult transport of sperm through the female reproductive tract, secondary to thick secretions, but also lung function and nutritional status at the time of conception significantly influence their fertility.

**Keywords:** Cystic fibrosis, CFTR, Congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens, Fertility, In vitro fertilization, Pregnancy

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