Reproductive outcome of men with azoospermia due to cryptorchidism using assisted techniques

The aetiology of cryptorchidism is still undiscernible in the majority of cases. It has long been argued that cryptorchidism reflects a primary testicular maldevelopment, where the contralateral scrotal testis also suffers from aspermatogenesis and low spermatogonia count. The aim of the study was to determine the reproductive outcome of ex-cryptorchid men with azoospermia post-orchidopexy after testicular sperm extraction (TESE) and intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (ICSI). In a retrospective analysis, we compared the sperm retrieval, fertilization, pregnancy and live birth rates after ICSI of consecutive ex-cryptorchid azoospermic patients (n = 15) undergoing TESE between Jan 2000 and Dec 2007 vs. non-cryptorchid azoospermic men (n = 142). Sperm retrieval rate of ex-cryptorchid men by TESE (66%) was comparable with non-cryptorchid men (47%) (p = 0.15) despite significantly higher FSH levels (30.7 +/- 25.4 vs. 17.9 +/- 14.8 respectively) (p = 0.018) and a more prevalent histopathology diagnosis of aspermatogenesis (75% vs. 40%, p = 0.046). Fertilization (43.3%), pregnancy (30%) and live birth (20%) rates after TESE-IVF-ICSI in the ex-cryptorchid group were not different from the non-cryptorchid group (48.7, 43 and 29%, p = 0.26, p = 0.21, p = 0.29 respectively). We conclude that the reproductive outcome of ex-cryptorchid men with azoospermia post-orchidopexy employing TESE-IVF-ICSI is comparable with non-cryptorchid azoospermic men.