Surgical Sperm Retrieval
This is performed when no sperm is present in the ejaculate. This may be because of failure of the sperm passages to develop, an obstruction in these passages or a previous male sterilisation (vasectomy). In these cases sperm may be extracted from the epididymis during an operation called micro-edidymal sperm aspiration (MESA). Another technique testicular sperm extraction (TESE) may be required and this involves the extraction of sperm from a testicular biopsy. If sufficient sperm is collected at the time of these operations the sample can be frozen for subsequent use in the future using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).