ArticleTranslational andrology and urology2025
The power of the map: testicular mapping to guide surgical sperm retrieval in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia.
Article in Translational andrology and urology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Background: For male infertility patients with suspected non-obstructive azoospermia, fine needle aspiration mapping (FNAM) of the testis identifies and locates sperm and guides surgical sperm retrieval (SSR), offering an alternative approach to microsurgical testicular sperm extraction (mTESE). Our objectives were to (I) identify success rates with less invasive methods of SSR guided by FNAM, (II) understand how hormone levels influence sperm presence on FNAM, and (III) describe surgical complications in a contemporary cohort of individuals undergoing FNAM of the testis. Methods: We completed an institutional review board (IRB) approved retrospective medical records review of men with azoospermia or cryptozoospermia who underwent a 12-point systematic sampling of each testicle between May 2009 and May 2023 including results of subsequent SSR. Possible cytopathologic diagnoses included germ cell aplasia (GCA), maturation arrest (MA), hypospermatogenesis (HS) and normal spermatogenesis (NS). Hormone levels and detection of sperm on FNAM were compared utilizing analysis of variance (ANOVA) and subsequent unpaired Results: Of the 220 men who underwent FNAM, 84 (38%) were found to have sperm. Of those 84, 52 subsequently underwent SSR based on their FNAM. Of these, 4 (8%) underwent testicular sperm extraction (TESE), 30 (59%) underwent testicular sperm aspiration (TESA), and 18 (33%) underwent mTESE. SSR successfully obtained sperm in all 52 (100%) patients. Average follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were 13.9±11.3 and 19.6±10.7 mU/mL in those with and without sperm on FNAM, respectively (P<0.001). When patients were stratified by detailed cytopathologic FNAM diagnosis, no difference was noted between FSH levels in those with HS from those with GCA or MA, however a difference was noted between HS and NS (P<0.001). In men with FSH levels between 7.7 and 14.9 mU/mL, 36% were found to have sperm and in men with FSH exceeding 15 mU/mL, 28% were found to have sperm on FNAM. Of those patients with FSH levels exceeding 7.6 mU/mL, 47% had successful office-based sperm extraction based on their FNAM. Conclusions: FNAM allows for de-escalation of sperm extraction technique, even in patients with poor clinical predictors of sperm presence, such as those with significantly elevated FSH levels.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.