Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine

The Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine (대한생식의학회)
권호 표지

The treatment of Non-obstructive Azoospermia

비폐쇄성 무정자증의 치료

  • Seo, Ju-Tae (Department of Urology, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Park, Yong-Seog (Infertility Research Laboratory, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Kim, Jong-Hyun (Department of Urology, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Lee, You-Sik (Department of Urology, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Jun, Jin-Hyun (Infertility Research Laboratory, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Lee, Ho-Joon (Infertility Research Laboratory, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Son, Il-Pyo (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Kang, Inn-Soo (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center) ;
  • Jun, Jong-Young (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center)
  • 서주태 (삼성제일병원 비뇨기과) ;
  • 박용석 (삼성제일병원 불임연구실) ;
  • 김종현 (삼성제일병원 비뇨기과) ;
  • 이유식 (삼성제일병원 비뇨기과) ;
  • 전진현 (삼성제일병원 불임연구실) ;
  • 이호준 (삼성제일병원 불임연구실) ;
  • 손일표 (삼성제일병원 산부인과) ;
  • 강인수 (삼성제일병원 산부인과) ;
  • 전종영 (삼성제일병원 산부인과)
  • Published : 1997.04.30
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Abstract

Irreparable obstructive azoospermic patients can be treated successfully with microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration(MESA) or testicular sperm extraction (TESE) by intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI). Obstructive azoospermic patients generally have normal spermatogenesis. The aim of this study was to see if any spermatozoa could be retrieved from non-obstructive azoospermia and to assess the efficacy of ICSI with TESE in germinal failure. 42 non-obstructive azoospermic patients revealed no spermatozoa at all in their ejaculates, even after centrifuge. The histology of 42 patients revealed 15 Sertoli cell only Syndrome, 4 maturation arrest and 23 severe hypospermatogenesis. All patients underwent extensive multiple testicular biopsy for sperm retrieval. These patients were scheduled for ICSI using testicular spermatozoa. In 25 out of 42 non-obstructive azoospermic patients, spermatozoa were recovered from multiple testicular biopsy specimen and 11 ongoing pregnancies were achieved. There are usually some tiny foci of spermatogenesis which allow TESE with ICSI in non-obstructive azoospermia. Also these patients may have sufficient sperm in the testes for ICSI, despite extremely high FSH level and small testes.

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