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| |  New Procedure Using Frozen Testicular Tissue Helps Achieve Pregnancy WALTHAM, Mass., May 21, 1996 -- A new non-surgical technique using frozen testicular tissue has been used to help an infertile couple in Massachusetts successfully achieve a pregnancy. The procedure, biopsy using cryopreserved testicular tissue, has applications for some forms of male infertility which were previously considered untreatable. Doctors at the Reproductive Science Center (RSC) of Boston confirm that a previously infertile couple is now pregnant with twins following isolation of sperm from the male partner's frozen testicular tissue. In the procedure, a small piece of tissue was removed from the man's testis and frozen in liquid nitrogen for several months until oocytes, or eggs, were obtained from the woman. A single sperm from the tissue was then injected directly into each of the woman's oocytes, and the resultant embryos were transferred into the woman's uterus to achieve the pregnancy. "This represents a tremendous breakthrough, because the procedure for obtaining testicular tissue is now relatively simple and because the use of cryopreserved, or frozen, sperm cells means that the biopsy no longer needs to coincide with the woman's ovulatory cycle," said Dr. Ronald Carson, Ph.D., scientific and laboratory director of RSC-Boston. Without cryopreservation, the retrieval of sperm must be timed to coincide with the woman's ovulatory cycle, requiring simultaneous surgical procedures by two different medical teams at the same facility. With cryopreservation, these cells can be stored for weeks or months and then used at the optimal time for fertilization. Several recent reports in medical journals have documented the potential for this procedure in treating certain forms of male infertility, but this is believed to be the first successful pregnancy achieved using testicular biopsy with cryopreserved testicular tissue. Dr. Carson worked with Dr. Patricia McShane of RSC and Dr. Robert Oates of the Department of Urology at Boston University in this collaborative effort. Infertility affects approximately one in twelve couples in the United States according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. It affects men and women in roughly equal numbers. Male infertility is caused most commonly by either the inability to produce sperm in the testis or an obstruction of the ducts and tubes which transport the sperm from the testis. "Isolation of sperm from testicular tissue will enable many couples for whom the male partner has no sperm in either his ejaculate or fluid surrounding the testes to achieve pregnancy," Dr. McShane said. "With the advent of a successful pregnancy using cryopreserved testicular tissue, we can see clearly the day when many of the most severe forms of male infertility will be treatable using different variations of these techniques," Dr. Carson added. The Reproductive Science Center-Boston is part of The IVF-America Network, which operates eight clinical facilities in the U.S. providing a range of services covering all aspects of infertility diagnosis and treatment. IVF-America, which has corporate headquarters in Purchase, New York, has been a pioneer in the use of retrieved sperm cells to treat male infertility. A pregnancy has also been achieved at the company's clinic in Port Chester, New York, using a variation of this procedure.
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