Two cases of Robertsonian translocations in oligozoospermic males and their consequences for pregnancies induced by intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Two case histories are presented documenting structural chromosomeabnormalities in infertile males. The abnormalities were detected onlyafter application of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was repeatedlyunsuccessful or resulted in an abnormal pregnancy. A mosaic Robertsoniantranslocation 45,XY,der(13;13)(q10; q10)/46,XY,t(13;13)(p10;p10),der(13p;13p) incompatible with normal offspring was found in a male withextreme oligozoospermia after three subsequent ICSI treatments wereunsuccessful and one had resulted in a spontaneous abortion. A second caseinvolved a Robertsonian translocation 45,XY,der(13;14)(q10;q10) which wasdetected in a male with extreme oligozoospermia after ultrasoundabnormalities were found in an ICSI-induced twin pregnancy. Amniocentesisshowed an unbalanced 46,XY,+13,der(13;14)(q10;q10) karyotype in one twinand a Robertsonian 45,XX,der(13;14)(q10;q10) karyotype in the other twin.Chromosome analysis of males with abnormal sperm characteristics is advisedprior to ICSI.