I. Craft et al., TESTICULAR NEEDLE ASPIRATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO BIOPSY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF SPERMATOGENESIS, Human reproduction, 12(7), 1997, pp. 1483-1487
The technique of fine needle aspiration (FNA) may have a role as a rel
iable, quick and easy method of obtaining testicular tissue, Recent ad
vances in the management of male subfertility and, in particular, the
finding that spermatozoa recovered from the epididymis and testis can
result in embryo generation after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IC
SI), question the traditional role of open testicular biopsy for the a
ssessment of spermatogenesis, FNA of the testis was performed on 19 ca
ses of male subfertility and histological and cytological preparations
obtained were assessed by light microscopy, FNA provided intact testi
cular tubules adequate for the histological assessment of spermatogene
sis in all cases, There was good correlation with the cytological prep
arations which gave an indication of the number of mature spermatozoa
present, FNA should be considered as a simple alternative to open test
icular biopsy in the current investigation of male subfertility and as
a method of retrieving spermatozoa for assisted conception using ICSI
.