Live birth following intracytoplasmic sperm injection after a 15-hour weather-related delay in cryopreservation of testicular sperm.

OBJECTIVE

To report a live birth after transfer of cryopreserved blastocysts derived from testicular sperm that were cryopreserved 15 hours after biopsy due to inclement weather.

DESIGN

Case report.

SETTING

University-affiliated private clinic.

PATIENT(S): Couple undergoing IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using testicular extracted sperm for male factor infertility due to unexplained obstructive azoospermia.

INTERVENTION(S): An IVF case involving testicular biopsy, cryopreservation, and thawing of testicular tissue, ICSI, embryo freezing, and transfer of cyropreserved blastocysts.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The ability to use cryopreserved testicular tissue in which optimal time from biopsy to freezing had been delayed because the weather was inclement.

RESULT(S): In spite of a 15-hour delay in processing and cryopreservation of the testicular biopsy, subsequent thawing yielded viable sperm that resulted in viable embryos after ICSI. Transfer of fresh embryos was unsuccessful. However, subsequent use of supernumerary viable blastocysts that were frozen resulted in the live birth of a baby.

CONCLUSION(S): A 15-hour delay in processing and cryopreservation of a testicular biopsy did not affect the viability of the extracted sperm after thawing. Although it is desirable to freeze the testicular specimen as soon as possible, the delay in processing in this case due to inclement weather did not affect the potential for fertilization and implantation of a viable cryopreserved blastocyst.