Poor intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcome in infertile males with azoospermia factor c microdeletions.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To explore whether the presence of azoospermia factor c (AZFc) microdeletions adversely affects intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome.<bold>Design: </bold>Retrospective cohort.<bold>Setting: </bold>University hospital.<bold>Patient(s): </bold>A total of 293 patients with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia AZFc deletions underwent 345 ICSI cycles, and 363 idiopathic patients with normal Y chromosome underwent 462 ICSI cycles.<bold>Intervention(s): </bold>Testicular sperm aspiration, microdissection testicular sperm extraction.<bold>Main Outcome Measure(s): </bold>The main clinical outcome parameters were cumulative clinical pregnancy rate, cumulative live birth delivery rate, and no embryo suitable for transfer cycle rate.<bold>Result(s): </bold>Compared with the control group, the AZFc deletion group exhibited poorer ICSI outcome, with significant differences between the 2 groups for cumulative clinical pregnancy rate (45.39% vs. 67.49%; odds ratio [OR], 2.843; 95% confidence interval [CI]), cumulative live birth delivery rate (35.15% vs. 53.44%; OR, 2.234; 95% CI), no embryo suitable for transfer cycle rate (15.07% vs. 8.23%; OR, 0.565; 95% CI), fertilization rate (46.80% vs. 53.37%; adjusted β, -0.074; 95% CI), implantation rate (28.63% vs. 31.26%; adjusted β, -0.075; 95% CI) separately. The poor ICSI outcome of the AZFc deletion group was related to AZFc microdeletions by linear and logistic regression analyses.<bold>Conclusion(s): </bold>AZFc microdeletions adversely affect ICSI outcome; patients with AZFc deletion should be informed that they have reduced opportunities to be biological fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]