Microsurgical Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (MESA)

The epididymal sperm aspiration is usually used for men in conditions like obstructive azoospermia, such as that caused by infection blockage or congenital absence of the vas deferens, previous vasectomy. Sperm are being produced in adequate numbers but are blocked from traveling from the testicles to the ejaculate.

A surgical procedure is applied to obtain some sperm samples. Usually under general anaesthesia and a small incision is made at the scrotum, exposes the man’s epididymis. The doctor then aspirates the motile sperm from the epididymis using a fine cannula.

Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE)

The testicular sperm extraction process is usually for men who cannot produce sperm by ejaculation. They are diagnosed as non-obstructive azoospermia and it is caused by primary testicular failure; severe varicocele; previous severe testicular inflammation or cryptorchidism, etc. Although the spermatogenesis function is abnormal, it is still possible to have a few sperm produced at some sites in the testicles.

This is the process of biopsy a small portion of seminiferous tubules from the testicle under general anaesthesia. To extract the few viable sperm presenting in the biopsy samples that can be used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).