Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) is a procedure done to collect sperm directly from the testes when there are no sperm found in semen. The procedure is done when:
Samples of tissue are taken from the testicles and sent to a sperm bank. If sperm is detected in the sample tissue, it will be frozen and stored. Men may have this procedure done to freeze their sperm before cancer treatment or to try to have a biological child after cancer treatment.
Testicular sperm aspiration (TESA) is performed by inserting a needle in the testis and aspirating tissue with no pressure. In percutaneous epidydimal sperm aspiration (PESA), a small needle is passed directly into the head of the epididymis and fluid is aspirated. It does not require surgical incision and fertility treatments like Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) use these extracted sperm cells.
The number of sperm found through PESA or TESA is used in combination with a specific type of IVF called Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) procedure is carried out in advance of any fertility treatment to confirm that sperm production is occurring and once this is confirmed, this procedure is then repeated on the day of the egg retrieval and the fresh sample is used for Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Provided that there are an acceptable number of sperm present, the sample can sometimes be frozen for use in future treatment cycles. The fertilized eggs are then cultured for several days in our lab before a healthy embryo is transferred into the uterus.
