Clinical and pathological correlation of the microdeletion of Y chromosome for the 30 patients with azoospermia and severe oligoasthenospermia.
OBJECTIVE
To review the accumulated 30 patients with different area of Y chromosome microdeletions, focusing on their correlation with the clinical and pathological findings.


METHODS
A total of 334 consecutive infertile men with azoospermia (218 patients) and severe oligoasthenospermia (116 patients) were screened. Complete physical and endocrinological examinations, general chromosome study and multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay to evaluate the Y chromosome microdeletion were performed. Ten patients received testicular biopsy. Then the clinical and pathological findings were analyzed with reference to the areas of Y chromosome microdeletion.


RESULTS
There is a decline of the percentage of sperm appearing in semen in the group that the gene deletion region from AZFc to AZFb. The clinical evidence of the impairment (decreased testicular size and elevated serum FSH) is also relevantly aggravated in this group. However, the pathology of testicular biopsy specimen was poorly correlated with the different deletion areas of the Y chromosome, which may be due to the limited number of specimens.


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical correlation of spermatogenic impairment to the different AZF deletion regions may provide the information for the infertile couples in pre-treatment counseling.
Chiang
Han-Sun
HS
College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei, China. hansun@mails.fju.edu.tw.
Yeh
Shauh-Der
SD
Wu
Chien-Chih
CC
Huang
Boo-Chung
BC
Tsai
Hui-Ju
HJ
Fang
Chia-Lang
CL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002875:Chromosomes; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D003376:Counseling; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000473:pathology*; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology; D016610:Tissue Embedding