Introduction: Investigation of sperm recovery rates and clinical parameters of patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) who had a history of the undescended testes was the objective of this study.
Methods: The population comprised 311 consecutive azoospermic men who were referred to our andrology unit from 2008 to 2018. All patients underwent a physical examination, semen and, hormones (LH, FSH, and testosterone) analyses, genetic analyses. The patients with genetic anomaly were excluded from this study. The remaining patients were divided into two groups: The undescended group was composed of 62 patients who had a history of undescended with or without orchidopexy surgery, while the idiopathic group consisted of 249 patients who were diagnosed as NOA.
Results: While testicular spermatozoa were found in 134 (53.8%) and 31 (50%) patients in idiopathic NOA and undescended testis groups respectively, there was no statistical difference between the two groups (p:0.95). The mean testicular volume was larger in patients with the idiopathic group compared to the ones` in the undescended group (13.1±5.2 ml vs. 10.9±4.5 ml p: 0.020). Also, the mean FSH level was higher in the undescended group compared to the idiopathic NOA group (27.2±15.3 vs. 20.9±13.9 p:0.003)( Table-1). In the undescended group, the sperm retrieval rate (SRR) of patients who underwent orchidopexy was higher than the rates of patients without a history of orchidopexy, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. (51.2%, n:21 vs. 47.6%, n:10 p:0.788). Finally, patients who underwent unilateral orchidopexy had a higher SRR than bilateral orchidopexy (73.3%, n:11 vs. 38.5% n:10 p: 0.031). ( Table-2).
Conclusions: Undescended testes were demonstrated to be a non-prognostic factor of SRR. However, patients who underwent unilateral orchidopexy had higher SRRs than patients with bilateral orchidopexy history. Source of
