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Efficacy of cryopreservation of embryos generated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection with spermatozoa from frozen testicular tissue

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the viability of frozen embryos generated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with frozen testicular spermatozoa.

Methods

A total of 68 fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycles and 85 subsequent frozen-thawed ET (FET) cycles were grouped according to the source of spermatozoa: fresh testicular spermatozoa (TESE) or frozen-thawed testicular spermatozoa (t-TESE).

Results

There were no significant differences in the age of female patients, number of oocytes, or fertilization rates in fresh ET cycles with TESE (TESE-fresh ET) versus t-TESE (t-TESE-fresh ET). The rate of embryo survival after thawing (95.7 % vs. 94.0 %) was similar in frozen ET cycles (FET) with TESE (TESE-FET) and with t-TESE (t-TESE-FET). While there were significant differences in the proportion of good quality embryos, no statistical differences were found in the pregnancy or clinical abortion rates between the two groups. Moreover, delivery rates were not significantly different.

Conclusions

Although the proportion of good quality embryos was affected by cryopreservation of testicular tissue, embryo survival rate was not. As well, subsequent pregnancy could be achieved successfully via t-TESE-FET cycles. Therefore, FET is not affected by the cryopreservation of testicular tissue, and avoids further oocyte retrieval and TESE procedures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors especially thank to Myung-Geol Pang, Ph.D. (Chung-Ang University) for manuscript review and scientific suggestions. Thanks also to Duck Sung Ko, M.S. (Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Cheil General Hospital & Women’s Healthcare Center) for her valuable support in statistical analysis and to the staff of Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine. And would like thank to Hee-Hun Chi, Ph.D. (MizMedi Hospital) and Hwan Rho, M.S., ELD (RMG ART Laboratories, Inc.) for comments on the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Myo Kyung Kim

    Present address: M Fertility Center, 12F, EK Tower, Teheran-ro 407, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Urology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cheil General Hospital & Women’s Healthcare Center, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Seoul, 100-380, Republic of Korea

    Yong-Seog Park, Myo Kyung Kim, Chun Kyu Lim, Sun-Hee Lee, Dong-Wook Park, Ju Tae Seo & Kwang Moon Yang

  2. Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Cheil General Hospital & Women’s Healthcare Center, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Seoul, 100-380, Republic of Korea

    Yong-Seog Park

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  1. Yong-Seog Park
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Correspondence to Yong-Seog Park.

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Capsule

The use of frozen-thawed embryos generated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using frozen-thawed testicular spermatozoa could provide satisfactory clinical outcomes and avoid further oocyte retrieval and testicular sperm extraction (TESE) procedures.

Yong-Seog Park and Myo Kyung Kim equally contributed to this work and should be considered to be the first author.

Presented in part at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. October 23 ~ 27, 2010. Denver, Colorado, USA

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Park, YS., Kim, M.K., Lim, C.K. et al. Efficacy of cryopreservation of embryos generated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection with spermatozoa from frozen testicular tissue. J Assist Reprod Genet 31, 1331–1336 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-014-0304-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-014-0304-2

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