[agracie1]

Hi Ladies,

My DH and I are in our first IVF cycle (just had ER today). About two years ago DH was diagnosed with azoospermia due to a bilateral congenital defect in his vas deferens (the tubes carrying the sperm from the testes did not fully develop so the sperm has no way out). DH had the TESE procedure done and we were able to retrieve two vials of tissue/sperm. Today the lab is doing ICSI on eight of the eggs we retreived. I was hoping to hear from any other women out there that have done ICSI due to similar reasons and may have gone on to conceive?? DH and I are both concerned about the quality/health of the sperm and wether it will result in a fertilized egg. DH was tested for the cystic fibrosis gene/chromosone defect and came back negative. My RE and embryologist dont seem to have as much concern as we do, although, their hopes and dreams arent riding on this....

Thanks so much for taking the time to read the post and good luck to you in your journey.

[sky]

Hi - i read your post, and my husband also has congenital absence of the vas deferens, although he tested positive as a carrier of cystic fibrosis. We are currently about to begin our 5th cycle of IVF (we did 2 fresh cycles and 2 frozen cycles so far). We have been able to make many embryos using his sperm, but none of them have stuck so far, so we are still trying!

[amyinohio]

My dh was dx with unexplained azoospermia and we have had "average" fertilization rates with 3-4 embies created from each cycle. I am now 26 weeks so the it all worked!

Good Luck! Sending you lots of !

[marta]

Originally Posted by sky

Hi - i read your post, and my husband also has congenital absence of the vas deferens, although he tested positive as a carrier of cystic fibrosis. We are currently about to begin our 5th cycle of IVF (we did 2 fresh cycles and 2 frozen cycles so far). We have been able to make many embryos using his sperm, but none of them have stuck so far, so we are still trying!

SKY ,
OMG, we are on the same boat!! It's going to be our 5th too and just like you we have been able to make 8 cell embryos but they don't stick. We did 4 frozen cycles/TESE/ All my test are good. Did you have Beta Integrin test done?(test on protein production needed for implantation)

(DH is a cf carrier)
What is your MD saying??

Good luck to everyone

[reremoog]

My husband has same issue with absence of vas. We were successful with our first round of IVF - I'm 10 1/2 weeks pregnant. BUT - my husband did not have TESE, he had MESA (TESE - tissue is removed from the testes; MESA - sperm is removed from the epididimus). There is debate going on in the infertility community amongst doctors as to which is better - sperm retrieved from the testes or sperm retrieved from the epididimus. When retrieved from the testes, the sperm is still really young - not near it's maturity potential. Sperm retrieved from the epididimus is older and more mature with the possibility of better mobility. ICSI would still be used, but more mature sperm could lead to better quality embryos. You may want to discuss the possibility of trying your next IVF round with sperm retrieved through MESA.

Also mom's-to-be, if the embryos are having difficulty taking once implanted, you might want to have some blood work done to see if you are deficient in any vitamins or other levels. I had a friend that found out she was extremely deficient in B12. Once she was taking on a regular basis, she had a successful pregnancy! Another friend has an issue absorbing folic acid due to an allergy that she had not been properly diagnosed with before. This issue has been preventing her from getting pregnant and was completely overlooked by the last 2 fertility clinics that she was being treated at. She is now being properly treated and the future is looking bright!

[anilorak13ska]

Yesterday we found out that my dh's first two urologists didn't think to test for CF, so he's having that test done soon.

It sounds like CF is not the only possible reason for a missing vas deferens? What else could cause it?

For those of you whose dh DID test positive for CF, and you are pursuing IVF - how did you reach that decision? Doesn't the gene have a chance of being passed on to the child, even if you test negative? Is there a way to test for this BEFORE creating an embryo, ie. can the sperm be tested?

Thanks !

[Kelbell]

Hey Karolina- my husband is missing one vas, which is not correlated with CF, rather there is somewhat of a correlation with renal agenesis (which basically congenital defects in renal anatomy), but everything in his physical exam turned up fine. A urologist can check for the vas deferens during a physical exam, so its nothing that you need to do anything fancy for. As for causing the absence, lots of microdeletions in the y chromosome can cause this. CF can be caused by thousands of different microdeletions as it is anyways, not just one, so many tests are CF can't necessarily guarantee that you are not a carrier.
If your husband has been examined by a urologist and he has noted that the vas deferens are present, I would not worry about this.

[O19APOS]

My husband has the congenital absence as well AND he tested positive as a carrier. I have military Doctors and they're HORRIBLE. I feel so uninformed. Can anyone provide any GOOD links where I might educate myself on this condition??? A lot of people here seem to know quite a bit about it and I don't really know what kind of options we have.

[NomadGnome]

Hi

I too was diagnosed with azoospermia and following investigations determined absence of both vas deferens. A number of years later I was also diagnosed with S4 CKD due to ectopic kidney, and on further research myself I have found out that malformation of either kidney can also go on to cause other anatomical abnormalities such as missing vas and hypospadias.

Hopefully your partner is not in the same boat, but I hope this may point you in the right sort of direction when doing your own research.

Good luck ;o)

P.S.
I too have asked about CF due to symptons I have recognised in myself, again from my own research but my doctor dismissed my concerns saying that I would have been notified earlier if I had been a carrier. I just find this so remarkable considering I was 23 when I was diagnosed with a brain tumour and 37 before being diagnosed with kidney failure and yet both issues were present from birth