Men with infertility caused by AZFc deletion can produce sons by intracytoplasmic sperm injection, but are likely to transmit the deletion and infertility

Deletion of the AZFc region of the Y chromosome is the most frequent molecu larly defined cause of spermatogenic failure. We report three unrelated men in whom azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia was caused by de-novo AZFc d eletions, and who produced sons by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), We employed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to examine the Y chromo somes of their four infant sons. All four sons were found to have inherited the Y chromosome deletions. Such sons are likely to be infertile as adults . This likelihood should be taken into account when counselling couples con sidering ICSI to circumvent infertility due to severe oligozoospermia or no n-obstructive azoospermia.