Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) and cryopreservation of testicular tissue

If no sperm cells are found in the ejaculate on successive examinations, it is still possible to isolate individual sperm cells directly from the testicular tissue of 50% of the patients. They can then be used for ICSI therapy.

We cooperate with several urologists who will take several small tissue samples from different locations in the patient’s testicles.

We will then cryopreserve the samples in our IVF lab, i.e. we freeze them down to -196° C in a special solution under computer control and store them in liquid nitrogen.

While cryoperserving the bulk of the testicular biopsies immediately after they arrive in our lab, we simultaneously perform a very time-consuming trial processing step to check for the presence of sperm cells. Only if we find sperm cells can we reasonably advise the couple to start preparing for the ICSI treatment.