Assisted reproduction for the treatment of azoospermia

Azoospermia, the most severe form of male infertility, is caused by obstructions in the genital tract or by testicular failure. Microsurgical techniques are available for the correction of some of these obstructions but no effective treatment is available for testicular failure. In recent years, methods have been developed for direct surgical sperm sampling from either the epididymis or the testis to be used by intracytoplasmic sperm injection. The main approach proven to be effective for the retrieval of spermatozoa from the epididymis in patients with obstructive azoospermia is microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration, although recently the retrieval of spermatozoa by fine needle aspiration was shown to be equally effective. Recovery of spermatozoa is also now performed in patients with severely deficient spermatogenesis using testicular open biopsy as well as aspiration by fine needle. The ultimate choice of sperm retrieval method in these patients will depend not only on sperm availability, but also on the physiological consequences of the different techniques on testicular function. This article summarizes the recent advances achieved in the treatment of azoospermic patients using these assisted reproduction surgical techniques.