BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play pivotal roles in spermatogenesis. MicroRNA-210 (miR-210) expression was up-regulated in the testes of sterile men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA). However, the underlying mechanisms of miR-210 involved in the spermatogenesis in patients with NOA are unknown. MATERIAL AND METHODS Expression of miR-210 and insulin-like growth factor II (IGF2) in the teste...

Non-obstructive azoospermia is diagnosed in approximately 10% of infertile men. It represents a failure of spermatogenesis within the testis and, from a management standpoint, is due to either a lack of appropriate stimulation by gonadotropins or an intrinsic testicular impairment. The former category of patients has hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and benefits from specific hormonal therapy. The...

Abstract Introduction Microscopic-assisted vasovasostomy is a well described procedure used to manage obstructive azoospermia. Intra-abdominal azoospermia poses challenge and various techniques have been described, including both open minimally invasive approaches. The wide-spread adoption of robotics within urology has led multiple reports robotic-assisted vasovasostomy, which offers feasible ...

background: the genetic association between cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (cftr) gene mutations and male infertility due to congenital bilateral absence of vas deferens (cbavd) is well established. mutant cftr, however may also be involved in the etiology of male infertility in non-cbavd cases. the present study was conducted to estimate the frequency of δi507 and δf508 cf...

Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a complex and severe condition whose etiology remains largely unknown. In a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of NOA in Chinese men, few loci reached genome-wide significance, although this might be a result of genetic heterogeneity. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) without genome-wide significance may also indicate genes that are essential for fert...

BACKGROUND The use of ICSI has been a major breakthrough in the treatment of male infertility. Even azoospermic patients with focal spermatogenesis in the testis (not sufficient to spill over into the ejaculate) may benefit from the technique. Previous reports suggest a higher pregnancy rate after ICSI treatment in patients with obstructive azoospermia (OA) compared to their non-obstructive azo...

The Y chromosome has high genetic variability with low rates of parallel and back mutations, which make up the most informative haplotyping system. To examine whether Y chromosome haplogroups (Y-hgs) could modify the effects of autosomal variants on non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), based on our previous genome-wide association study (GWAS), we conducted a genetic interaction analysis in GWAS ...

BACKGROUND Little is known about sperm recovery and ICSI using testicular sperm from men with non-obstructive azoospermia who had a previous orchidopexy. We therefore studied the sperm recovery in this subgroup and evaluated clinical parameters predicting successful sperm retrieval and the outcome of ICSI. METHODS A total of 79 non-obstructive azoospermic men with a history of orchidopexy und...

The proposed hypothesis for this study was that seminal testosterone/estradiol levels and/or their ratios may be a good indicator for predicting normal spermatogenesis. The concentrations of estradiol and testosterone in seminal fluid were measured using competitive immunoassay techniques in specimens collected from 192 infertile patients and 103 normospermic men. Infertile patients were subdiv...

Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) is often an effective method for sperm retrieval from men with non-obstructive azoospermia. However, TESE has been a blind procedure that does not identify the focal sperm-producing areas of the testicle until after tissue has been excised from the patient. Experience with a new technique of microdissection of testicular tubules is presented here that identifi...