Serial sonography and colour flow Doppler imaging following testicular and epididymal sperm extraction

R. Ron-El*, S. Strauss, S. Friedler, D. Strassburger, D. Komarovsky, A. Raziel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

Percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA), percutaneous testicular sperm aspiration (TESA) and testicular sperm extraction (TESE) are invasive procedures and their consequences on the testis have not been clearly defined. In order to relate the sonographic and colour Doppler flow changes to the clinical data, 14 patients with non-obstructive and six with obstructive azoospermia were examined by the same roentgenologist immediately before, at 5 days, 2 weeks, 2 and 6 months after the surgical procedure. Testicular volumes remained unchanged during the followup period in both the non-obstructive and obstructive groups. Of the non-obstructive group, focal testicular lesions were seen in 20 of the 26 testes (77%) 5 days after the procedure and in 54% by 6 months. Ten were hypoechoic, of which six converted to echogenic foci, three remained hypoechoic and one disappeared at 6 months. The other 10 were echogenic lesions, three of which were no longer visible at 6 months and the remainder were unchanged. In the obstructive azoospermic group, focal lesions were not found. Extratesticular abnormality consistent with haematoma was demonstrated in four nonobstructive cases, which disappeared at the 6 month examination, and in none of the obstructive azoospermic patients. Whether residual focal lesions in the testes have long-term effects remains to be evaluated. In the obstructive azoospermic group, the aspirations performed did not leave any sonographic abnormalities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3390-3393
Number of pages4
JournalHuman Reproduction
Volume13
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Azoospermia
  • In-vitro fertilization
  • Intracytoplasmic sperm injection
  • Testicular biopsy
  • Testicular sperm extraction

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