Micro-TESE vs TESE
One of the main reasons for male infertility is azoospermia. Men with azoospermia are recommended to undergo microTESE or conventional TESE if they aspire to have children of their own. MicroTESE has proved to lead to better results for the more severe cases due to multiple reasons.
What are the advantages of microTESE over TESE?
- MicroTESE is performed using an operative microscope which makes finding the sperm in the testicular tubules much easier
- MicroTESE yields higher amounts of sperm
- MicroTESE takes a less amount of tissue out of the testis and is less invasive
- MicroTESE is less likely to damage the microscopic blood vessels or the testosterone producing cells
- MicroTESE seems to work better for patients with severe non-obstructive azoospermia
What are the disadvantages of TESE over microTESE?
- The urologist has to take tissue responsible for producing sperm by their own discretion based on their knowledge of the situation of the patient
- The chance of finding sperm is decreased
- More tissue might need to be removed from the testis in TESE so it is more invasive than microTESE
- The chance of damaging the sensitive blood vessels is increased
- TESE might be a better choice for the less severe cases, like obstructive azoospermia
Read more about : Azoospermia Micro TESE
Which sperm retrieval is right for me?
If you have obstructive azoospermia, you can do either microTESE or TESE and the sperm retrieval success rate will be over 99% for you.
If you are a non-obstructive azoospermia patient, micro-TESE is preferable for you since infertility is caused by a lack of sperm production rather than a blockage.
If no sperm is found for a patient who has undergone TESE, the doctors might recommend him to do microTESE in a few months time.
After sperm is successfully retrieved, you can either do IVF or ICSI, or freeze your sperm for future use.
Read more about : IUI vs. IVF