The effect of advanced paternal age on the outcomes of assisted reproductive techniques among patients with azoospermia using cryopreserved testicular spermatozoa.

To determine whether advanced male age influences the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) following the cryopreservation of spermatozoa obtained through testicular sperm extraction (TESE). Data were collected from infertile couples suffering from azoospermia who underwent TESE and ICSI from January 1998 to August 2010. There were 212 ICSI cycles using extracted testicular sperm after cryopreservation in this retrospective clinical analysis. The participating men all underwent testicular biopsy and subsequent tissue cryopreservation in a single academic tertiary care medical center. Those cryopreserved sperm were used during consecutive intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment cycles. Female partners underwent individualized controlled ovarian hyperstimulation programs. A total of 184 ICSI cycles were divided into the following two evaluation designs: (1) total cycles irrespective maternal age; (2) ICSI cycles with maternal age <34 years. Male partners were stratified into age categories at 5-year intervals (31-35 years, 36-40 years, and 41-51 years) in these two designs. In the first design, most outcomes of assisted reproductive techniques were similar during the three groups, but the maternal age is much lower in the first group, and the mean number of retried oocytes and estradiol level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin injection was significantly higher in the first group. In the second design, the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection and clinical factors including the estradiol level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin injection, the number of retrieved oocytes, the rate of cleaved oocytes, the number of transferred embryos, the numbers of transferred good embryos, the clinical pregnancy rate per transfer cycle and the implantation rate were similar among the three groups of women aged <34 years after adjusting for female age. There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate an unfavorable effect of advanced paternal age on the fertility outcome for TESE-ICSI. The thawed testicular spermatozoa from males aged ≤ 40 years did not have an adverse impact on ICSI outcomes.

Tsai YR ，Lan KC ，Kung FT ，Lin PY ，Chiang HJ ，Lin YJ ，Huang FJ ... -  《-》

Outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles with fresh testicular spermatozoa obtained on the day of or the day before oocyte collection and with cryopreserved testicular sperm in patients with azoospermia.

To compare the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)-ET cycles with fresh testicular spermatozoa obtained on the same day or the day before oocyte retrieval with frozen-thawed spermatozoa. Retrospective cohort study. Fertility center. The first ICSI-ET cycle of 337 couples with motile testicular spermatozoa of azoospermic patients. Microdissection testicular sperm extraction (TESE), sperm cryopreservation, ICSI-ET. Fertilization, implantation, clinical pregnancy rates (PRs) and delivery rates. Testicular sperm retrieval was performed on the day of oocyte retrieval in 166 cycles (group A), the day before oocyte retrieval in 42 cycles (group B), and the frozen-thawed testicular spermatozoa were used in 129 cycles (group C). The groups were comparable in terms of the ages of male and female patients, ovarian response to stimulation, as well as the number of oocytes injected. The number of cycles with nonobstructive azoospermia and obstructive azoospermia was evenly distributed in each group. Fertilization rates were 70.7%, 68.7%, and 67.3%, clinical PRs 31.3%, 30.9%, and 25.5%, and delivery rates 28.9%, 28.5%, and 23.2% for groups A, B, and C, respectively. The outcomes of patients with nonobstructive azoospermia did not differ from those of patients with obstructive azoospermia within and among the groups. Neither the timing of TESE (on the day of or the day before oocyte retrieval) nor the use of frozen-thawed testicular sperm affects the outcome of ICSI-ET cycle when motile spermatozoa are obtained in azoospermic men. In addition, etiology of azoospermia does not have any influence on the outcome with different timing of microdissection TESE procedure for ICSI.

Karacan M ，Alwaeely F ，Erkan S ，Çebi Z ，Berberoğlugil M ，Batukan M ，Uluğ M ，Arvas A ，Çamlıbel T ... -  《-》

Pregnancy outcome and neonatal data of children born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection with a different duration of cryopreservation of spermatozoa obtained through testicular sperm extraction.

To evaluate the impact of the duration of cryopreservation of testicular sperm on clinical and neonatal outcomes after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for patients experiencing azoospermia. This study included 132 azoospermic men who participated in 212 ICSI cycles. The participating men underwent testicular biopsy for the cryopreservation of tissue to be used for subsequent ICSI cycles. The duration of the storage of testicular sperm was determined by the time of oocyte retrieval. Fertilization, embryo development in vitro, pregnancy rates, and neonatal outcomes were assessed. Although the mean percentage of viability decreased from 73.2% prior to freezing to 50.2% after thawing, viable spermatozoa were visualized subsequent to thawing of the tissue samples for all patients. The potential for fertilization and subsequent embryonic development was not influenced by the duration of sperm cryopreservation up to 2 years longer. The pregnancy outcomes also varied independently of the duration of sperm cryopreservation. The duration of storage did not appear to affect the neonatal outcomes adversely, including the Apgar score and intensive care unit admission rates, although neonatal outcomes were influenced by advanced maternal age. It also has no obvious impact on the major and minor congenital malformation rate of the newborns. ICSI outcomes, pregnancy outcome, neonatal outcome, and congenital malformation rate appear not to be affected by the duration of the period of cryostorage. An earlier start of the ICSI cycle following the testicular sperm cryopreservation is preferable because longer preservation is associated with more advanced maternal age.

Tsai YR ，Lan KC ，Tsai CC ，Lin PY ，Kung FT ，Liu YC ，Huang FJ ... -  《-》

Clinical outcomes and development of children born to couples with obstructive and nonobstructive azoospermia undergoing testicular sperm extraction-intracytoplasmic sperm injection: A comparative study.

To evaluate and compare the clinical outcomes and development of children born between obstructive azoospermia (OA) couples and nonobstructive azoospermia couples (NOA) after testicular sperm extraction (TESE) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Data were collected from infertile couples suffering from azoospermia who underwent TESE and ICSI from January 2001 to December 2009 at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan. A total of 154 ICSI cycles were performed using extracted testicular sperm from men with obstructive azoospermia (67 ICSI cycles) and men with nonobstructive azoospermia (87 ICSI cycles). Retrospective analysis of clinical outcomes and development of children born after TESE-ICSE between obstructive azoospermia couples and nonobstructive azoospermia couples. The assisted reproductive technology (ART) result between OA and NOA groups, including age, E2 level on hCG day, number of oocytes retrieved, normal fertilization rate, zygote Grade 1 score distribution, number of top-quality embryos transferred, clinical pregnancy rate per transfer, chemical pregnancy rate per transfer, implantation rate, live birth rate per transfer, and abortion rate per transfer, were all similar. Thirty-one live births resulted from 67 ICSE cycles in the OA group and 33 live births from 87 ICSE cycles in the NOA group. The obstetric and perinatal outcomes were similar between the groups, and children conceived by using ICSI were generally healthy without raised tendency of major birth defect and development impairment. In our study, there were no differences in the fertility rate and clinic pregnancy rate between the OA and NOA groups using TESE-ICSI. Also, the clinical outcomes and development of children were similar between the OA and the NOA groups using TESE-ICSI.

Tsai YR ，Huang FJ ，Lin PY ，Kung FT ，Lin YJ ，Lan KC ... -  《-》

Cryobiology in human assisted reproductive technology. Would Hippocrates approve?

Bredkjaer HE ，Grudzinskas JG 《-》