EDITORIAL COMMENT

Sperm extraction from testicular tissue in men with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) due to maturation arrest (MA) is one of the most challenging procedures. Particularly in these patients, determination of potential sperm recovery before the microdissection testicular sperm extraction (micro TESE) can be complex. In this article, the authors tried to answer the question whether any clinical data can predict sperm recovery in special subgroup of men with NOA. They retrospectively analyzed the records of 211 patients with MA who underwent micro TESE. All over sperm retrieval rate was 52%, however, in patients with late MA pattern and higher FSH levels, significantly higher sperm recovery rate were observed compared to those with early MA and close to normal FSH levels. In addition, they found that a history of cryptorchidism and focal MA rather than diffuse MA was positively associated with sperm recovery. This study showed that the chance of sperm recovery is the worst if an azoospermic man is with normal testis volume, normal FSH levels and diffuse MA pathology.