Pregnancy outcome after ICSI with thawed testicular sperm from men with non-obstructive azoospermia compared to ICSI with ejaculated sperm from men with severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia and IVF with normal ejaculated sperm

The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical pregnancy outcomes, fetal complications and malformation rate of intracytoplasmic injection of thawed cryopreseverd sperm extracted by testicular aspiration from men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) compared with intracytoplasmic injection of fresh ejaculated sperm from men with severe oligoteratoasthenozoospermia (OTA) and standard in vitro fertilization using ejaculated sperm from normospermic men. The mean oocyte fertilization rate was significantly lowest for ICSI with testicular aspirated sperm (NOA group). However, there was no significant difference among the three groups in pregnancy outcomes, namely rates of spontaneous abortion, biochemical pregnancy, extrauterine pregnancy, singleton multifetal pregnancy, preterm delivery before 36 weeks’ gestation, maternal complications, transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit, intrauterine growth restriction or fetal malformations. These results suggest that despite some earlier findings that intracytoplasmic injection of aspirated sperm from men with NOA is associated with lower fertilization rates and embryo quality, the pregnancy and immediate neonatal outcomes may be unaffected.