Epididymal and testicular sperm retrieval in azoospermic patients and the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in relation to the etiology of azoospermia

Spermatozoa retrieved by percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) or percutaneous testicular sperm aspiration (TESA) and by open biopsy for testicular sperm extraction (TESE) can fertilize human oocytes by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), thus enabling azoospermic men to become fathers. However, the sperm retrieval success rate is higher in patients with obstructive azoospermia (OA) than from those with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA). The present retrospective study reports on the sperm retrieval success rate with the use of PESA in patients with OA, and with TESA and/or TESE in patients with NOA. We also have related the outcome of ICSI to the etiology of the azoospermia.