Diagnostic and clinical features in azoospermia

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The recent advances In assisted fertilization and gamete micromanipulation techniques have enabled fertilization in some forms of azoospermia; for example, epididymal sperm aspiration in obstructive azoospermia. Therefore knowledge of the specific degree of testicular damage is of primary importance, since other clinical parameters, such as FSH plasma levels and testicular volume, do not discriminate between the different testiculopathies. in order to further Characterize the specific testicular conditions present in azoospermia, we have examined a large group of azoospermic subjects on the basts of testicular cytological analysis obtained by fine needle aspiration. DESIGN AND PATIENTS One hundred and twenty‐two infertile, azoospermic men were studied by physical examination, FSH radioimmunoassay, testicular ultrasound examination and fine needle aspiration of the testes. Thirty‐five infertile normozoospermic subjects were studied as controls.