Obstetric and perinatal outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection for infertile men with Y chromosome microdeletions

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for men with Y chromosome azoospermia factor (AZF) microdeletions. METHODS: Twenty-five men with Y chromosome microdeletions and their partners underwent ICSI treatment. These subjects were matched against 50 ICSI cycles in which the patients had normal Y chromosomes. RESULTS: Among the 25 couples, 17 achieved a clinical pregnancy of which 14 continued to a live birth. Sixteen men had deletions of AZFc markers (sY152, sY254, and sY255), 1 had a deletion of sY152, 3 had a deletion of sY254, sY255, 1 had a deletion of sY152, sY239, Sy242, sY254, and sY255, and 3 had deletions of sY152, sY254, sY255, and sY157. AZFb microdeletions (sY127, sY134, and sY143) were found in 1 patient. AZF microdeletions had no adverse effects on the clinical pregnancy, implantation or delivery rates, birth weight, gestational age, or sex ratio when compared with the control group. Overall, the multiple gestation and preterm delivery rates of the AZF microdeletion group were similar to those in the control group. CONCLUSION: Men with AZF microdeletions can achieve the delivery of healthy children using ICSI. In this series, it produced good implantation rate and obstetric and perinatal outcomes.