Patients with azospermia can have a child via ICSI in case if TESE reveals any sperms. However, there is no solution for patients who have no sperms in tissues obtained surgically via TESE. Only hop efor such patients is new developments in this field. Can stem cell transplantation be a hope?
Stem cells are the sources of all mature cells in all tissues. Stem cells for sperms are spermatogonia. Azospermic patients with defective production lack spermatogonia. Maturation arrest is another entity in which spermatogonia fail to maturate. Although such cells have been used for ICSI, and such pregnancies have been obtained, the subject is obscure.
As patients with no sperms after TESE lack even stem cells, homologous stem cell transplantation in such patients is not possible. But, heterologous stem cell transplantation may be a solution in the future. Another hope is stem cell derived gametes. But this technique involves ethical issues
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