Surgical sperm retrieval
Sperm harvesting is performed on men who do not have or have extremely low number of sperms in their ejaculate and want to have children.
These treatments won’t help if you have genetic conditions.
Who might need the surgery?
- Obstructive or non- obstructive azoospermia (absent sperms)
- Failure to ejaculate during an ICSI procedure
- Total astheno/necrozoospermia: When sperms are immotile or non-viable.
What are the different types of sperm retrieval?
There are different types of sperm retrieval and the type of surgical sperm retrieval depends on the diagnosis.
- Percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA): A fine needle is inserted in to the epididymis and sperms are aspirated. It is a simple and easy method.
- Microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration (MESA): Epididymis is examined under an operating microscope and fluid sample is taken to find sperms.
- Testicular sperm aspiration (TESA): A fine needle is inserted in to the testis and sperms are aspirated. It is a simple and easy method.
- Testicular sperm extraction (TESE): An incision is made on the testicular skin and small tissue of the testis is biopsied in the hopes of finding sperms.
- Microscope assisted testicular sperm extraction (Micro TESE): An operating microscope is used to find areas with high suspicion of availability of sperms and these promising areas of tubules are taken out to find sperms.
It is important to understand that even if sperms are found there is no guarantee that embryos will be formed after fertilizing the eggs with sperms.