Abstract:
Objective: The ability to cryopreserve small numbers of spermatozoa retrieved by testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in males having nonobstructive azoospermia avoids the requirement for repeated surgery and promotes the preservation of fertility. The same applies to men with cryptozoospermia who may show few sperms only after concentrating their semen samples. Many techniques were proposed for freezing rare motile spermatozoa. In this pilot study we propose a new simple and safe technique that requires no specific commercial tools.
Methodology: A new method is suggested for cryopreserving rare human spermatozoa using the culture dish slice.
Results: Four cases were included in this pilot study. A total of 20 motile ejaculate sperms and 20 motile testicular sperms were frozen using the culture dish slice technique. Sperm retrieval, retrieval of motility and retrieval of usable sperms for ICSI were (100%, 25% and 70% respectively) for ejaculate sperms and (100%, 10% and 60% respectively) for testicular sperms.
Conclusion: The culture dish slice technique would represent an easy, non-expensive method for rare sperm cryopreservation that necessitates no special commercial devices.