Men with no sperm in their ejaculate—a condition known as azoospermia—may
no longer need invasive procedures to determine if they have sperm in
their testes according to a new study published in Human Reproduction.
“Trust me when I say that men would rather have a non-invasive scan done
than have a surgical procedure to determine whether or not they might be
able to be fathers”
Instead, the study found that MR Spectroscopy—a simple metabolic scan
that combines the use of H Spectroscopy with magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI)—can be used to determine the likelihood of
finding sperm in men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA).
The study’s lead author is Paul
Turek, MD, former professor and endowed chair at the University of
California San Francisco and founder of The
Turek Clinic.
“Some men with azoospermia may still have small amounts of sperm in the
testicle, but determining which of these men has retrievable sperm is
challenging. This is a novel and exciting application of metabolic
scanning that shows great potential to eliminate invasive biopsies and
gives new hope to infertile men who wish to father children,” said Dr.
Turek, a men’s reproductive health expert.
Traditional methods for evaluating if sperm exist, including testicular
biopsy and microdissection are highly invasive and have only a 60
percent to 65 percent success rate. FNA
Sperm Mapping, pioneered by Dr. Turek, is far less invasive, but
still involves the use of fine needle aspiration to obtain tissue
samples from the testes.