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Optimal use of fresh and frozen-thawed testicular sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection in azoospermic patients

  • Andrology
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose: To optimize the use of fresh and frozen-thawed testicular biopsy specimens from patients with azoospermia.

Methods: Fifty-one patients suffering from obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermia underwent testicular sperm extraction (TESE). The specimens were divided and used for either in vitro maturation or freezing for a future intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycle.

Results: At initial testicular sperm extraction, very few motile spermatozoa were seen. After 24 h of in vitro maturation, sperm motility increased remarkably, with a maximum motility rate seen between 48 and 72 h of culture. Motile spermatozoa were observed up to 120 h in culture. In the 22 fresh ICSI cycles, a total of 294 oocytes were injected using motile sperm and 212 oocytes demonstrated normal 2PN formation (fertilization rate, 72.1%). In 36 frozen-thawed ICSI cycles, a total of 454 oocytes were injected and 302 oocytes became 2PN (66.5%). On day 3, high quality embryos were observed in 54.2% of fresh cycles and 54.1% of frozen cycles (P > 0.05). The clinical pregnancy rate did not show a significant difference between using fresh (59%) and frozen (55.5%) testicular biopsy sperm for ICSI (P > 0.05), but the embryo implantation rates did differ significantly between fresh (29.5%) and frozen-thawed (22.2%) cycles (P < 0.05). A total of 33 healthy babies have been born from 22 women, giving birth after 58 embryo transfer attempts (38%).

Conclusion: The freezing and in vitro culturing of testicular biopsy tissue is a very reliable approach for the management of testicular biopsy specimens from azoospermic patients, and offers the possibility of several treatments of IVF/ICSI from a single sample.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arizona Center for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, 5190 E Farness Drive, #114, Tucson, AZ, 85712

    Bin Wu, Diana Wong, Suzhen Lu, Stephen Dickstein, Marta Silva & Timothy J. Gelety

  2. College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China

    Bin Wu

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  1. Bin Wu
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  2. Diana Wong
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  3. Suzhen Lu
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  4. Stephen Dickstein
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  5. Marta Silva
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  6. Timothy J. Gelety
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Correspondence to Bin Wu.

Additional information

Presented in part at the 51st Annual of Pacific Coast Reproductive Society, April 23–27, 2003, Rancho Mirage, California.

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Wu, B., Wong, D., Lu, S. et al. Optimal use of fresh and frozen-thawed testicular sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection in azoospermic patients. J Assist Reprod Genet 22, 389–394 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-005-7481-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-005-7481-y

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