OBJECTIVE To determine whether decreased testicular levels of enzymes necessary for retinoic acid biosynthesis were associated with male infertility, as retinoic acid is known to be necessary for spermatogenesis. DESIGN Observational analysis of testicular tissue samples, sperm indices, and serum hormone concentrations. SETTING Two infertility centers in Chile. PATIENT(S) 32 infertile men...

To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of needle aspiration biopsy of seminiferous tubules (NABST) and to represent the redistributed diagnostic results corresponding to testicular volumes and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels. In this retrospective study, we investigated 65 infertile men with either azoospermia or oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. Following NABST, specimens were stained with ...

Testicular germ cell tumours (TGCT), including seminomas, embryonal carcinomas, teratomas and yolk sac tumours, have a common precursor, the carcinoma in situ (CIS) cell. Recent gene expression studies displaying close similarity of CIS cells to embryonic stem cells support the longstanding theory that CIS most likely originates in utero from fetal gonocytes. The clinical association between th...

OBJECTIVE To describe clinical and histological features observed in the setting of an unusual complex translocation involving three autosomes (9, 13, and 14) identified in an otherwise healthy male referred for infertility consultation. MATERIALS AND METHODS The patient was age 30 and no family history was available (adopted). Total azoospermia was confirmed on multiple semen analyses. Perip...

A 44-year-old man presented with cerebellar ataxia and limbic encephalitis and was ultimately diagnosed with metastatic germ cell neoplasm resulting from a "burned out" primary testicular tumor. The patient had progressive ataxia, leading to a thorough investigation for infectious, autoimmune, metabolic, and malignant causes of acquired cerebellar ataxia that revealed no significant findings. T...

BACKGROUND Sperm motility is the reliable parameter that roles in success of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), especially in azoospermia. Selection of appropriate culture duration, temperature and media for enhancing the sperm motility is an important issue in assisted reproduction program. The aim was to evaluate the sperm motion characteristics after culturing of testicular sperm extra...

Swerdlow et al studied a cohort of 1075 men who had been treated for cryptorchidism. In 120 testes that had been biopsied at the time of orchiopexy the relative risk of subsequent development of testicular cancer was 66.7. The corresponding relative risk in 1285 undescended testes that had also been operated on but not biopsied was 6.7. The estimate for testes that were not biopsied is about as...

Obstructive azoospermia (OA) is defined as the absence of spermatozoa in the ejaculate despite normal spermatogenesis, but either a mechanical blockage exists in the genital tract between the epididymis and the ejaculatory duct or the vasa deferentia are absent. A normal testicular biopsy is pathognomonic for obstruction, and a vasography should be indicated to identify the site of the obstruct...

Eight cases of 45 XO/46 XY mosaicism are described: four were phenotypic males. Karyotyping should be performed more frequently in short boys as growth hormone treatment and testicular biopsy, to screen for carcinoma in situ, are likely to be beneficial.

Testicular adrenal rest tumors (TART) occur often as asymptomatic nodules in corticotropin-dependent lesions aberrant adrenal tissue in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients. The present manuscript is about an unusual case of a 16-year-old CAH patient due to 11β-hydroxylase deficiency. He underwent testicle biopsy because of testicle tumor suspicion and diagnosed with TART.