AIMS The aim of this work was to report on a heavy drinker whose azoospermia was reversed after alcohol withdrawal. We also review the literature on links between alcohol consumption and azoospermia. METHOD This study is a clinical case report and a literature review. RESULTS Two years after alcohol withdrawal, a child was born following assisted reproduction technique. Excessive alcohol co...

Obstructive azoospermia is a relatively common male infertility condition. The main etiologies of obstructive azoospermia include congenital, surgical-derived, traumatic and post-infectious cases. Although seminal tract reconstruction is a cost-effective treatment in most cases, this approach may not be feasible or desired in some cases. In such cases, assisted reproduction techniques offer a m...

From 1 August 1993 until 30 September 1994, 69 couples suffering from azoospermia underwent testicular sperm extraction and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. In 50 couples with obstructive azoospermia a total of 631 metaphase-II oocytes were injected after testicular sperm extraction yielding a 2-PN fertilization rate of 57%. In female patients <40 years of age an ongoing pregnancy rate per tra...

Objective: To investigate the of epididymal width in identifying non obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and obstructive azoospermia (OA). Methods: Using scrotal ultrasound to compare difference of epididymal width between OA (n=18) and NOA (n=10) patients. Results: In the patients with OA average bilateral epididymal width is 0.7+0.1 cm, which is higher than the NOA patients (P<0.05) by ultrasonic m...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a well-recognized, but uncommon, cause of azoospermia and infertility in men. Commonly this is due to undertreatment of excessive adrenal androgen secretion which suppresses gonadotrophin stimulation of the testes. A less common complication of CAH is development of adrenal tissue within the testes; this is important to recognize because it may be confuse...

Human chromosome deletions in Yq11 seem to occur frequently as de novo mutation events in men with idiopathic azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. However, the molecular extensions of these deletions are variable. They can be large and therefore visible under the microscope or small, not visible under the microscope, and containing the deletion of one or more DNA loci recently mapped in an ap...

BACKGROUND The PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway has an essential role in transposon silencing, meiosis progression, spermatogenesis, and germline maintenance. HIWI genes are critical for piRNA biogenesis and function. Therefore, polymorphisms in HIWI genes contribute to spermatogenesis defects and can be considered as risk factors for male infertility. The aim of the present study was to in...