Types of infertility treatment - Surgical sperm retrieval

The Private Healthcare UK guide to infertility treatment contains articles on infertility and IVF treatment which are aimed at improving your knowledge of treatments for infertility, their benefits and potential risks.

The guide is sponsored by The London Women's Clinic, leading fertility specialists who have been involved in fertility management since 1984.

The London Women's Clinic (LWC) delivers a full range of diagnostic and treatment programmes for fertility disorders  and operate one of the most successful IVF programmes in the world.

The LWC in Harley Street is rated in the top three amongst all UK licensed centres for women aged up to 35 and the HFEA has published the centre specific IVF success rates for the period 1st January – 30th June 2007 showing verified results of 55.7% success.

For more information about The London Women’s Clinic:

The London Women's Clinic London, Harley Street.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7487 5050 E-mail: info@londonwomensclinic.com

In this section

Surgical sperm retrieval may be necessary in cases of impaired sperm production, an obstruction or congenital absence of the vas.

It is possible to extract sperm through a very fine needle directly from the epididymis (PESA - Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration) or the testes (TESA - Testicular Sperm Aspiration) providing live sperm are being produced. Alternatively, if sperm are not found, a sample of tissue (testicular biopsy) can be taken from the testes through a small incision (TESE – Testicular Sperm Extraction). Two or three stitches are placed in the skin which self-dissolve in about ten days.

Once the sperm have been collected, fertilisation is achieved using Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), which involves injecting a single sperm directly into the egg. Excess sperm from the sample can be frozen for future use.

In this guide

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