Authors: Mehmet AK, Nur Dokuzeylul Gungor
Aim: To compare the perinatal outcomes of pregnancies obtained with fresh or frozen-thawed sperm in patients who underwent surgical sperm extraction for the diagnosis of azoospermia.
Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, data were collected on couples who conceived following Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection using surgically retrieved fresh or frozen-thawed sperm. Participants were divided into two equal groups as follows. Group 1 (n = 100) consisted of patients who underwent ICSI and subsequent embryo transfer using fresh testicular sperm and Group 2 (n = 100) consisted of patients who underwent ICSI by using frozen-thawed testicular sperm. Perinatal outcome was compared according to the use of fresh or frozen-thawed sperm. Primary outcome measures included clinical pregancy, miscarriage, live birth, congenital abnormality, birthweight, gestational age at delivery, stillbirth and neonatal death.
Results: Live birth and clinical pregnancy rates were found to be significantly higher in patients who underwent ICSI/ET with frozen-thawed testicular sperm compared to fresh sperm group. The miscarriage rates were significantly lower in the frozen-thawed sperm group compared to the fresh testicular sperm group. Clinical pregnancy was detected in 18 cases, while no pregnancy was detected in 82 cases undergoing ICSI with fresh sperm. In the group where ICSI/ET was applied with frozen sperm, clinical pregnancy was detected in 51 cases, whereas pregnancy was not detected in 49 cases. In the frozen sperm group, in addition to C/S and multiple pregnancy rates, the number of babies with a birth weight below 2500 g was significantly higher than in the fresh sperm group. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of minor and major congenital anomalies, birth weight, gestational age at delivery, stillbirth and neonatal death.
Conclusion: Using fresh or frozen testicular sperm does not have a significant effect on perintal outcome in patients with azoospermia.
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