In the last 10 years, some groundbreaking technological developments have occurred, especially in male infertility. Although these developments target women, there are also encouraging developments that concern men. These developments particularly concern men who have no live sperm cells or immature sperm cells in their semen. When we look at the general causes of infertility, 30-35% of them are due to male causes. Low sperm count, motility problems or structural problems in sperm are the leading causes of male infertility. In approximately one third of this group, no live sperm is found in the semen. We call this condition Azoospermia. It is very important to provide treatment based on the cause in this group of cases.
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Azoospermia is not uncommon at all…1% in the population, 15% in men presenting with infertility…These men , two sperm samples must be given and the diagnosis must be clarified... a single sample is not enough. If the diagnosis is clarified, examinations should be performed to determine the cause.
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Causes of Azoospermia;
Sperm production occurs in 30-40% of azoospemia cases, but there is blockage in the ducts. There is, so the sperm cannot be expelled. In these cases, it is easy to obtain sperm using various techniques. However, in the remaining 60-70% of cases, there is a defect in sperm production, in which case genetic and hormonal examination must be performed and hormonal treatment must be given to suitable cases. -
There is a production problem. In these cases, following hormonal treatment, a surgical procedure called TESE is used to obtain sperm from the testicles. Our probability of obtaining sperm from this procedure is approximately 30-40%. Unfortunately, sperm cannot be obtained in a large portion of the remaining population. This creates serious disappointment for couples. Sometimes, precursor sperm cells are obtained, not mature sperm. These cells are generally called round sperm cells. Success in in vitro fertilization treatment with these precursor-round sperm cells is almost zero.
Electric Activation; Precursor sperm cells are obtained from most of the azoospermic cases who underwent TESE procedure. However, the capacity of these cells to fertilize eggs is quite weak. In recent years, a new With technology, the capacity of these precursor sperm to fertilize the egg has been increased. This is where electrical activation comes into play. The obtained round-precursor sperm cells are subjected to special processes before being introduced into the egg, and then they are exposed to electric current together with the egg. This method is briefly called activation with electric current. Approximately 90 (ninety) live babies have been obtained so far with this method. In a very recent study, it was shown that these babies did not encounter any negative situations until they were 2 years old.
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