Clinical evaluation of micro-testicular sperm extraction combined with testicular tissue suspensions cryopreservation in the treatment of non-obstructive azoospermia

Abstract

Objective To investigate the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome of testicular tissue suspensions cryopreservation combined with micro-testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in the treatment of non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) with different pathological types. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the ICSI outcome of NOA patients undergoing micro-TESE and testicular tissue suspensions cryopreservation from March 2016 to March 2017. Results In 70 cases of NOA, spermatozoa of 30 cases (42.9%) were obtained from micro-TESE. The sperm retrieval rate (SRR) of the patients with spermatogenic cells maturation arrest was significantly lower than that of the patients with hypo-spermatogenesis (H-S) (P=0.00). However, compared with Sertoli cell only syndrome (SCOS), the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.64). The SRR of early maturation arrest [20.8% (5/24)] was lower than that of late maturation arrest [43.8% (7/16)]. Thirty cases of testicular tissue thawed were injected with ICSI. The clinical pregnancy rate was 46.7%. The clinical pregnancy rate was 41.7% in maturation arrest group and 47.1% in H-S group. Conclusion In the assisted reproductive technique, the clinical results testicular of tissue suspensions freezing combined with micro-TESE for NOA patients are satisfactory, which would provide new ideas and options for clinical treatment of NOA patients. Key words: Micro-testicular sperm extraction (TESE); Testicular tissue suspensions freezing; Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA); Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)