Objective: To compare the rate of chromosome abnormalities in embryos obtained from karyotypically normal patients with nonobstructive azoospermia undergoing testicular sperm extraction (TESE) to those from patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with ejaculated sperm.
Design: Retrospective analysis.
Setting: IVF centers.
Patient(s): Male partners had either nonobstructive zoospermia or oligospermia.
Intervention(s): Preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Chromosome enumeration was performed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Embryos classified as abnormal were reanalyzed to study mosaicism.
Main outcome measure(s): Chromosome abnormalities in embryos.
Result(s): Embryos from ICSI cycles with ejaculated sperm (group 1) were 41.8% normal, 26.2% aneuploid, and 26.5% mosaic. In contrast, the embryos from ICSI cycles with TESE for nonobstructive azoospermia (group 2) were 22% normal, 17% aneuploid, and 53% mosaic. The difference in mosaicism rate between the two groups of embryos was highly significant.
Conclusion(s): The present study results indicate a high incidence of mosaicism in embryos derived from TESE in men with a severe deficit in spermatogenesis. Sperm derived from TESE for nonobstructive azoospermia may have a higher rate of compromised or immature centrosome structures leading to mosaicism in the embryo.