[Azoospermia: management and results: a series of 90 cases]

Abstract

Objective: To report our 15-year experience in managing azoospermic males at the Brest University Hospital.

Patients and methods: From 1996 to 2010, 90 azoospermic males were followed: 41 with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and 49 with obstructive azoospermia (OA). Surgical methods proposed for retrieving sperm were Microsurgical Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (MESA) for men with OA and microdissection Testicular Sperm Extraction (mTESE) for those with NOA.

Results: Spermatozoa were retrieved in 56.1% of the testicular biopsies for NOA. The embryo transfer rate per cycle for injection intracytoplasmique d'un spermatozoïde (ICSI) with epididymal spermatozoa (OA) was higher to that of ICSI with ejaculated spermatozoa (93.2% vs. 86.6%, P<0.05), but the rate was lower for ICSI with testicular sperm (NOA) (70.2% vs. 86.6%, P<0.01). The rate of clinical pregnancy per embryo transfer was 31.4% following ICSI with epididymal spermatozoa but it was of 24.2% with testicular sperm and 23.1% with ejaculated sperm.

Conclusion: ICSI are usually difficult in NOA because they are done with very few spermatozoa. When spermatozoa are retrieved from surgical techniques, more than 50% of the OA couples and almost 30% of the NOA couples conceived at least one child.