Infertility Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Infertility, including details on male and female infertility, treatment, causes, pregnancy. | ||||||||
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The diagnosis of azoospermia depends on the force of centrifugation.Corea M, Campagnone J, Sigman M Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Brown University Medical School, 2 Dudley Street, Providence, RI 02905, USA. OBJECTIVE: To determine the centrifugal force required to pellet sperm. DESIGN: Prospective, in vitro study. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENT(S): Men undergoing semen processing or postvasectomy semen analyses. INTERVENTION(S): In Phase I, postvasectomy semen samples were centrifuged at 600 x g, and the pellets were examined. Supernatants from samples with no visible sperm underwent repeat centrifugation at 1,000 x g; the supernatants were removed and centrifuged at 3,000 x g. Pellets from both centrifugations were examined. Phase II examined nonazoospermic semen that was divided into 3 aliquots and centrifuged at 500, 1,000, and 3,000 x g. The supernatants were examined for the presence of sperm. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Sperm presence in centrifuged pellets or seminal supernatant. RESULT(S): Phase I: After centrifugation at 1,000 x g and 3,000 x g, sperm were noted in 12% and 0% of samples, respectively. Phase II: Sperm were noted in the supernatant in 100% of samples subjected to 500 x g and 1,000 x g, and in 92% of samples subjected to 3,000 x g centrifugation. CONCLUSION(S): If sperm are in the seminal plasma, they will also be present in the pellet following centrifugation at a force of 1,000 x g or greater. Semen samples that appear azoospermic upon initial wet mount microscopy should be centrifuged at a minimum of 1,000 x g for 15 minutes. Published 11 April 2005 in Fertil Steril, 83(4): 920-2.
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