Premium
Ultrasound‐guided testicular sperm aspiration in azoospermic patients: A new sperm retrieval method for intracytoplasmic sperm injection
Author(s) -
Belenky Alexander,
Avrech Ory M.,
Bachar Gil Nissim,
Zuckerman Zvi,
Rafael Zion Ben,
Fisch Benjamin,
Cohen Maya
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.1045
Subject(s) - medicine , sperm retrieval , azoospermia , sperm , scrotum , intracytoplasmic sperm injection , testicular sperm extraction , surgery , urology , infertility , pregnancy , andrology , genetics , biology
Purpose We investigated the technique of ultrasound‐guided testicular sperm aspiration (USTSA) and compared it with “blind” testicular sperm aspiration (TSA) in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia. Methods Thirty‐nine consecutive azoospermic men underwent TSA, 16 under sonographic guidance (USTSA group) and 23 with no imaging guidance (TSA group). Clinical and hormonal evaluation and sonography of the scrotum and testes were performed 1–2 days before the procedure. The aspiration was done using short‐term general anesthesia. Follow‐up consisted of sonographic reexamination of the scrotum and testes immediately and 1 month after the procedure. Results Intraoperative sonography with power Doppler imaging enabled good visualization of the testicular parenchyma, easy sampling, and avoidance of prominent vessels. Sufficient material was retrieved in 15 USTSA patients (94%) and 19 TSA patients (83%). No patients needed more than 4 hours' ambulatory hospitalization after the procedure. In the remaining 5 patients, aspiration failed to yield sperm, so open biopsy was performed. In those patients, postaspiration surgical exploration revealed subtunical bleeding in 3 patients after TSA but none after USTSA. Late minor complications occurred in 2 patients (13%) in the USTSA group and 7 (30%) in the TSA group. No difference was found between the 2 groups in pregnancy rate in the patients' female partners. Conclusions USTSA is a safe and accurate method for sperm retrieval in azoospermic patients. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 29:339–343, 2001.