Comparison of sperm retrieval and reproductive outcome in azoospermic men with testicular failure and obstructive azoospermia treated for infertility.

We assessed the rates of sperm retrieval and intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes, including the neonatal profile of infants conceived, in men with testicular failure. Three-hundred and sixty-five men with testicular failure who underwent micro-dissection testicular sperm extraction were included in this study. We compared their outcomes with 40 men with testicular failure who used donor sperm for injections due to failed retrieval, and 146 men with obstructive azoospermia who underwent percutaneous sperm retrieval.

Reproductive potential of men with obstructive azoospermia undergoing percutaneous sperm retrieval and intracytoplasmic sperm injection according to the cause of obstruction.

Purpose: We evaluated the retrieval rates and reproductive outcomes of percutaneous sperm retrieval according to the cause of obstructive azoospermia.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively studied the records of 146 men with obstructive azoospermia who underwent sperm retrieval for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Patients were grouped by the cause of obstruction, including 32 with congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens, 59 with vasectomy and 55 with obstruction due to post-infection disease.

Resistance of human spermatozoa to cryoinjury in repeated cycles of thaw-refreezing.

Objective: To study the resistance of human spermatozoa to cryoinjury in repeated cycles of thaw-refreezing by using the fast liquid nitrogen vapor method.

Materials And Methods: Semen specimens were obtained from sixteen normal and oligozoospermic individuals who required disposal at the sperm bank. Five of them had testicular cancer.

A comparison of menotropin, highly-purified menotropin and follitropin alfa in cycles of intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Background: Over the last several decades, as a result of an evolution in manufacturing processes, a marked development has been made in the field of gonadotropins for ovarian stimulation. Initially, therapeutic gonadotropins were produced from a simple process of urine extraction and purification; now they are produced via a complex system involving recombinant technology, which yields gonadotropins with high levels of purity, quality, and consistency.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 865 consecutive intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) compared the clinical efficacy of three gonadotropins (menotropin [hMG; n = 299], highly-purified hMG [HP-hMG; n = 330] and follitropin alfa [r-hFSH; n = 236]) for ovarian stimulation after pituitary down-regulation.

Sperm defect severity rather than sperm Source is associated with lower fertilization rates after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of sperm defect severity and the type of azoospermia on the outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Materials And Methods: This study included 313 ICSI cycles that were divided into two major groups according to the source of spermatozoa used for ICSI: 1) Ejaculated (group 1; n = 220) and 2) Testicular/Epididymal (group 2; n = 93). Group 1 was subdivided into four subgroups according to the results of the semen analysis: 1) single defect (oligo-[O] or astheno-[A] or teratozoospermia-[T], n = 41), 2) double defect (a combination of two single defects, n = 45), 3) triple defect (OAT, n = 48), and 4) control (no sperm defects; n = 86).

Influence of antisperm antibodies in the semen on intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcome.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of autoantibodies against spermatozoa present in the semen on the outcome of in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of clinical and laboratorial data from a six year-period ICSI cycles. Screening for the presence of ASA in the semen, by using the direct immunobeads test (IBT), was available for 351 cycles.

Feasibility of refreezing human spermatozoa through the technique of liquid nitrogen vapor.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of refreezing human semen using the technique of liquid nitrogen vapor with static phases.

Materials And Methods: Twenty samples from 16 subjects who required disposal of their cryopreserved semen were thawed, corresponding to 6 cancer patients and 10 participants in the assisted reproduction (AR) program. Samples were refrozen using the technique of liquid nitrogen vapor with static phases, identical to the one used for the initial freezing, and thawed again after 72 hours.