Male Infertility: Surgical Treatment (Varicocele, Microsurgical Reconstruction, TUR Ejaculatory Ducts)

Abstract

Male factor infertility contributes to at least half of all cases of infertility in couples. The most common causes of male factor infertility are impaired sperm production due to varicoceles, obstruction of the ductal system, and genetic defects causing nonobstructive azoospermia. A majority of these underlying conditions are treatable. Even when in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) is necessary, treatment of men has been shown to improve the outcomes of IVF-ICSI and potentially increase the chances of finding sperm with microdissection sperm extraction in some cases of nonobstructive azoospermia. Important advances in the field include abundant evidence now supporting microsurgical repair of varicocele in varicocele-associated nonobstructive azoospermia prior to IVF-ICSI or attempted surgical sperm retrieval. Advances in techniques for reconstruction of obstruction is dependent on the surgeon’s skill in creating a tension-free and leak-proof mucosa-to-mucosa accurate approximation with a good blood supply and healthy mucosa and muscularis and can result in higher patency rates. Treating the men often allows upgrading men from being solely candidates for donor sperm or adoption to candidates for ICF-ICSI with surgically retrieved testicular sperm to allowing IVF-ICSI with ejaculated sperm and from IVF-ICSI with ejaculated sperm to allowing the simpler intrauterine insemination and, finally, the possibility of a naturally conceived pregnancy. This review contains 27 figures, 1 table, and 69 references. Key Words: microsurgery, obstructive azoospermia, transurethral resection of the ejaculatory duct, varicocele, vasectomy reversal, vasoepididymostomy, vasography, vasovasostomy