Is Diagnostic Testicular Fine Needle Aspiration Necessary in Azoospermic Men Before Sperm Aspiration/Extraction for Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Cycles?

Purpose: To determine whether diagnostic testicular fineneedle aspiration (TEFNA) sampling needs to be performedin azoospermic men prior to obtaining testicular sperm cellsfor IVF-ICSI procedures. Methods: Ten azoospermic patients underwent TEFNA in1993–1996. During 1997, all patients underwent testicularsperm aspiration (TESA) and/or testicular sperm extraction(TESE) to retrieve spermatozoa for IVF-ICSI cycles. Theresults of the two procedures performed in two separatehospitals were compared. Results: Diagnostic TEFNA revealed spermatozoa in fivepatients; identical results in four were found duringIVF-ICSI cycles. In three patients, only Sertoli cells were foundon TEFNA, in two of them TESA/TESE showed identicalresults, and in one, two spermatozoa were detected byCyto-SEM. In the remaining two patients, spermatids orspermatocytes were found on both procedures. Conclusions: There was a very good correlation betweenthe diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. We suggest thatin azoospermic patients, diagnostic TEFNA is valuable inorder to avoid unnecessary controlled ovarianhyperstimulation in the female partner for IVF. In patients in whomspermatozoa are detected, cryopreservation may beperformed for later IVF-ICSI cycles.     

单精子卵胞浆内注射治疗梗阻性无精子症的临床疗效分析

目的探讨单精子卵胞浆内注射（ICSI）治疗梗阻性无精子症的临床疗效。方法选择2006年10月-2008年7月因男性不孕症夫妇行ICSI台疗的患者638例分成两组,ICSI组和TESA＋ICSI组,ICSI组为自行排精后精液内可以找到正常形态活精子的少精症患者行ICSI治疗584例,TESA＋ICSI组为梗阻性无精子症患者经睾丸穿刺找到睾丸内形态正常活精子行ICSI治疗共54例,两组女方均给予超促排卵用药获取卵母细胞。结果虽然TEsA＋ICSI组受精率较ICSI组稍低（P〈0.05）,但两组卵裂率、优质胚胎率、种植率和临床妊娠率均没有统计学差异（P〉0．05）。结论TESA＋ICSI是治疗梗阻性无精症的有效方法。     

Studies of percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Four distinct studies were carried out using two data sets ofpercutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) and intracytoplasmicsperm injection (ICSI) procedures performed from March 1993to January 1997. In study A, an analysis of 181 ICSI treatmentcycles following PESA revealed a successful epididymal spermretrieval rate of 83%. It confirmed that PESA is an effectivesperm retrieval method and the associated ICSI pregnancy rate(35% per embryo transfer) compared favourably with that of othersperm retrieval methods. In study B, the relevance of a priordiagnostic PESA procedure was ascertained by comparing the spermretrieval rates in two groups of patients having their firstICSI treatment cycle with spermatozoa retrieved through PESA.Group B1 (n=50) had diagnostic PESA prior to the ICSI treatmentcycle PESA procedure, unlike patients in group B2 (n=64) whodid not. The sperm retrieval rate in the treatment cycle procedurewas not different at 90 and 82.8% for groups B1 and B2 respectively.However, the discontinuation of diagnostic PESA is fraught withproblems including liability to medico-legal sanctions. In studyC, analysis of 177 treatment cycles involving PESA and ICSIrevealed a successful sperm retrieval rate by PESA of 82% inthe first cycle, 93% in the second, 96% in the third and 100%in the fourth cycle. The same trend was evident when sperm retrievalwas examined in relation to each of the epididymides. Retrievedspermatozoa were found to be motile in 67-100% of cases andthe frequency of samples containing motile spermatozoa did notdecrease with increase in the number of PESA attempts. Theseresults show that PESA does not jeopardize future epididymalsperm retrieval. In study D, the outcome of treatment with ICSIusing ejaculated spermatozoa (305 cycles) (group D1) was comparedwith that of ICSI using spermatozoa obtained through PESA (54cycles) (group D2). The median age of women in the two groupsof couples was similar (34 years). In group D1, 70% of metaphaseII oocytes were fertilized compared with 61% in group D2 (P<0.01).The cleavage rate and the median numbers of transferred andcryopreserved embryos were similar in both groups. There wasno significant difference between the clinical pregnancy rates(33 and 42% in groups D1 and D2 respectively). Our results showthat the outcome of PESA-ICSI treatment compared favourablywith that of ICSI using ejaculated spermatozoa.     

Can we predict the chance of successful epididymal or testicular sperm aspiration following vasectomy?

Purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate if serum markers, men’s age, interval since vasectomy, BMI, testicular size and smoking could predict the success of epididymal or testicular sperm aspiration (PESA/TESA) in vasectomized men. Forty-four consecutively performed PESA/TESA procedures were reviewed retrospectively. Motile sperm was retrieved from 77.3% of PESA/TESA procedures. Mean serum Inhibin-B (Inh-B) level tended to be higher in men who had motile sperm retrieved compared to those who had not (180.3 versus 126.2?pg/ml, p?=?0.05). Univariate analysis identified serum Inh-B to be the only predictor of PESA/TESA success (r?=?0.32, CI: 0.006–0.584, p?=?0.046). Serum FSH, LH, T levels, age, BMI, smoking status and interval since vasectomy did not correlate with the PESA/TESA outcome. Inh-B could modestly discriminate between successful and unsuccessful PESA/TESA (AUC=?0.70) with high positive (89.5%) but low negative prediction (36.8%); 58.6% sensitivity and 77.7% specificity at the optimum cut-off level of 166?pg/ml. Positive outcome was only 50% when the Inh-B level was below 100?pg/ml. It is concluded that a high serum Inh-B might reliably predict successful PESA/TESA in vasectomized men. More invasive sperm retrieval procedures could be reserved for men with very low Inh-B or failed PESA/TESA. Future studies with adequate power may confirm our findings.     

Comparison of pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection performed with frozen versus fresh testicular sperm

BackgroundIt remains controversial whether there is a difference in the prognosis of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using frozen or fresh testicular sperm in patients with obstructive azoospermia (OA). Moreover, in the available studies, few have tracked neonatal outcomes. This study aimed to compare the pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of ICSI using cryopreserved sperm versus fresh sperm collected by testicular sperm aspiration (TESA).MethodsA total of 317 OA patients treated with ICSI in a university affiliated hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 were included in this study. The participants were divided into two groups according to the type of sperm used for ICSI: frozen sperm group (n=154) and fresh sperm group (n=163). The pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of the two groups were compared.ResultsThe data produced by this study showed no significant statistical difference in the 2 pronuclei (2PN) fertilization rate, 2PN cleavage rate, high-quality blastocyst rate, and the average number of transferred embryos in the frozen and fresh sperm groups. Similarly, no difference was found in implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, multiple pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate, premature delivery rate, live birth rate, and gender ratio at birth (P>0.05). The average newborn birth weight was similar in both groups (2,932.61±728.40 vs. 3,100.32±515.64 g, respectively) (P>0.05). A higher incidence of low birthweight (LBW) newborns was found in the frozen sperm group (20.91% vs. 8.49%) (P<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that LBW is related to single or twin pregnancies (P<0.01), but not sperm (frozen or fresh) (P>0.05). We further analyzed the twin and single pregnancies in the two groups separately, and found that the incidences of LBW were both similar (P>0.05). There was no difference in the Apgar scores at 1 min and 5 min after birth between the two groups (P>0.05).ConclusionsThe use of frozen testicular sperm by TESA was efficient for men with OA. There were similar pregnancy and neonatal outcomes following TESA-ICSI using frozen or fresh sperm in this retrospective study. Prospective investigations are needed for further validation.     

High sensitivity and reproducibility of in‐house ELISAs using different genotypes of Trypanosoma cruzi

The adequate choice of Trypanosoma cruzi strains as antigen source for the diagnosis of Chagas disease is still controversial due to differences in terms of accuracy reported between different diagnostic tests. In this study was determined if the genetic variability between different genotypes of T. cruzi (TcI, TcII and TcIV) affect the final diagnosis of Chagas disease. The sensitivity and specificity index of in‐house ELISA tests prepared with different T. cruzi strains were evaluated with chagasic and non‐chagasic control sera and using the TESA‐blot as a reference test. The results of this study revealed that the sensitivity index did not vary, with percentages of 100% for all strains in both tests. However, the specificity index for ELISA tests showed differences between 92% and 98%, but were reduced to 78%‐89% when Leishmania‐positive sera were included. All ELISAs and TESA‐blot prepared with different antigens and the recombinant Wiener test were challenged in an endemic community for Chagas disease in Panama. Both ELISAs and TESA‐blot recognized the same positive sera, corroborating the sensitivity indexes (100%) found with the control sera. The TESA‐blot maintained the specificity index of 100% and did not display false positives. However, the recombinant Wiener test decreased its sensitivity to 81.25%.