Frozen Sperm Taken Directly from Testicles Option for IVF Couples

Researchers determined that the type of facility where sperm is taken and its distance from the IVF laboratory has no bearing on pregnancy outcomes.

This is incredibly beneficial as previously stated for couples hoping to potentially conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and may benefit men with no sperm in their semen due various things, including genetics, cancer or testicular failure.

Researchers used a single sperm that was then injected into an egg that has been surgically retrieved from a woman's ovaries. The fertilized egg or embryo then is transferred to the woman's womb.

"The convenience and ease of being able to use frozen sperm taken by biopsy in ICSI offers many advantages over fresh sperm," said Kenan Omurtag, MD, the study's first author and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, via a press release.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 1995 through 2009 from the Washington University Infertility and Reproductive Medicine Center.

Over one hundred thirty-six men supposedly had testicular biopsies to be used in the ICSI, and of those biopsies, 84 percent were involved in via frozen sperm and the remaining 16 percent used fresh sperm.

Two urologists performed 150 testicular sperm biopsies in the operating room adjacent to the IVF lab in an operating room in another building almost one mile from the IVF lab and in an ambulatory surgical center that was approximately 15 miles from the IVF lab. The maximum travel time for the third site was less than 30 minutes, according to the study. J

No statistically significant difference was shown between the locations and pregnancy results.

"Men with no sperm in their semen now have more options to have children of their own," said Randall Odem, MD, co-author of the study and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, who recommends that men with infertility issues seek treatment from a reproductive endocrinologist and a urologist trained in male infertility.

"This study demonstrates that using frozen sperm taken by biopsy works as well for most patients in what matters most -pregnancy rates," he said.

More information regarding the study can be found in PLUS ONE.