[Clinical aspects of testicular biopsy in the infertile subject]

Testicular biopsy was once much used in the diagnosis of male infertility. Current clinical experience suggests that it should be confined to a prioritary method in cases of azocytospermia and serious oligozoospermia with low or normal plasma FSH, and as a routine procedure in corrective surgery (varicocelectomy, orchidopexy, etc.). An account is given of the technical variants of the operation, its complications and contraindications, and a brief reference is made to discordant opinions expressed by leading andrologists concerning its indications. It is felt that it should only be performed in suitably selected cases, and always in the event of thorough exploration of the testis and its adnexa.