Journal of Andrology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Journal of Andrology, Vol. 27, No. 1, January/February 2006
Copyright © American Society of Andrology
DOI: 10.2164/jandrol.05079

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kovacic, B.
Right arrow Articles by Reljic, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kovacic, B.
Right arrow Articles by Reljic, M.

Clinical Use of Pentoxifylline for Activation of Immotile Testicular Sperm Before ICSI in Patients With Azoospermia

BORUT KOVAcIc, VELJKO VLAISAVLJEVIc AND MILAN RELJIc

From the Department of Reproductive Medicine and Gynecologic Endocrinology, Maribor Teaching Hospital, Maribor, Slovenia.

Correspondence to: Borut Kovacic, Department of Reproductive Medicine and Gynecologic Endocrinology, Maribor Teaching Hospital, Ljubljanska 5, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia (e-mail: borut.kov{at}sb-mb.si).


The testicular sperm from biopsy and frozen/thawed tissue are frequently immotile. The purpose of our retrospective study was to assess the effect of short exposure of testicular samples with only immotile sperm to pentoxifylline (PF)-sperm motility stimulator. In 77 of 294 (26.2%) testicular sperm ablation/testicular sperm extraction-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (TESA/TESE-ICSI) cycles in patients with azoospermia, only immotile sperm were found in biopsies even after 2 hours of incubation of tissue in the medium. These 77 cycles were divided into 2 groups. In group 1 (cycles between 1999 and 2001; n = 30), ICSI was performed with untreated immotile sperm. In group 2 (cycles between 2002 and 2004; n = 47), immotile testicular sperm were treated for 20 minutes with pentoxifylline (PF) (1.76 mM) before ICSI. Both groups had the same proportion of ICSI cycles with fresh, frozen/thawed, and aspirated testicular sperm. The overall pregnancy rate of TESA/TESE-ICSI did not vary during the study period. In 45 of 47 (95.7%) testicular samples with total immotility, the sperm started to move 20 minutes after PF treatment. The mean time required for ICSI was shortened in the PF group (30 minutes [minimum 10, maximum 90] vs 120 minutes [minimum 60, maximum 240]) due to easier identification of motile sperm. In comparison with the nontreated group, the PF group had a higher fertilization rate (66% vs 50.9%; P < .005) and mean number of embryos per cycle (4.7 ± 3.3 vs 2.7 ± 2.1; P < .01). The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle in PF and non-PF groups was 38.3% and 26.7%, respectively. By using PF in cases of only immotile testicular sperm we can cause movement of testicular sperm, allow easier identification of vital sperm, shorten the procedure, improve fertilization rates, and increase the number of embryos.

     Key words: Testicular biopsy, human spermatozoa, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, motility stimulants, fertilization




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J AndrolHome page
J. Rajfer
Letter to the Editor: Is TESA Passe?
J Androl, July 1, 2006; 27(4): 491 - 491.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2006 by The American Society of Andrology.