A new treatment for men with sperm related fertility issues allows couples to have children without using donor semen.
Cork Fertility Centre has just announced the first reported pregnancy in Ireland as a result of an advanced sperm retrieval technique, Microsurgical Testicular Sperm Extraction (Micro-TESE).
According to the centre's consultant urologist and andrologist, Dr Ivor Cullen, the new procedure was carried out on a patient from Cork in conjunction with the centre's scientific team.
“The patient previously had testicular surgery which affected his sperm production, and as a result he required Micro-TESE before he and his partner underwent IVF treatment,” he explained.
Dr Cullen, who is one of only a few urologists in Ireland qualified to carry out this highly specialised surgery, performed the procedure on the patient at his practice in University Hospital Waterford.
“This is a landmark pregnancy and very positive news regarding the treatment of male infertility and in particular a condition known as azoospermia where no sperm cells are found in a semen sample.”
“Micro-TESE offers renewed hope to these men, and to men who have been diagnosed with defective sperm production, or had previous unsuccessful conventional sperm retrieval procedures.”
Dr Cullen explained that Micro-TESE is used to treat men who cannot produce sperm. It involves carrying out targeted dissection of tiny tubes within the testicle more likely to contain sperm.
A high powered microscope is used to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy tissue. If viable sperm is found in the healthy tissue, it is prepared and frozen for use in a subsequent IVF cycle.
Head of laboratory services at Cork Fertility Centre, Dr Tim Dineen, said the team were delighted for the couple who are expecting their baby in late 2016.
“This procedure involved precise surgery and robust laboratory techniques,” said Dr Dineen.
He said that the centre would continue to pioneer innovative techniques to help couples with fertility issues.
“We will continue to pioneer innovative and evidence-based procedures and techniques, such as Micro-TESE, that help and benefit our patients overcoming their fertility struggles.”
He said the centre has carried out in-house testicular biopsy, known as TESE, for men with azoospermia for over a decade, and achieved their first birth through the technique in 2004.
Dr Dineen said while TESE is beneficial for azoospermic men whose basic problem is duct blockage, Micro-TESE is a more advanced procedure for men whose problem is failure to produce sperm cells.
Micro-TESE costs €5,000 which covers all of the treatment at Cork Fertility Centre plus the procedure by Dr Cullen with the subsequent cycle of IVF costing about a further € 4,250.
