Objective: Retrospective study of the results of ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm insemination) with frozen sperm obtained by PESA (percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration) was performed in 27 patients.
Methods: With conventional freezing method, sperm from diagnosing PESA and the remaining motile sperm after treating cycle were frozen. After frozen-thawed and ICSI process, fertilization rate, implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate were compared and other outcomes including pregnant combinations and parameters of newborns of experimental group (which used frozen-thawed sperm) and control group (which used fresh PESA sperm) were analyzed respectively.
Results: One hundred and sixty three and 1 157 oocytes of stage M II were injected respectively in the experimental group (15 cycles) and control group (100 cycles), and fertilization rate of experimental group was prominently higher than that of control group (84.05% vs 73.29%, P < 0.05), while implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate were of no difference from the control, respectively (23.07% vs 15.73%; 53.33% vs 37.00%, P > 0.05). The differences in newborn's weights between two groups were of no statistical significance (P > 0.05). In the experimental group, eight clinical pregnancies were achieved including 5 live deliveries and 3 ongoing pregnancies, 37 clinical pregnancies including 30 deliveries with only 1 fetal death, 3 ongoing pregnancies and 4 abortions in the control group. Neither vital pregnant combinations nor neonate malformations were found in both groups.
Conclusion: ICSI using frozen-thawed sperm obtained by PESA is an economic effective and safe method to treat azoospermia. Recovering rates of frozen sperm form PESA should be further increased.