Quantitative analysis of testicle biopsy: determination of partial obstruction and prediction of sperm count after surgery for obstruction.

Twenty-one male patients without ductal obstruction were studied prospectively by a simplified method of quantitative testicle biopsy. The mean number of mature spermatids per tubule in the testicle biopsy correlated closely with the sperm count in all 21 cases. Patients with less than 10,000,000 sperm/ml always had less than 20 mature spermatids per seminiferous tubule. Patients with more than 10,000,000 sperm/ml always had more than 20 mature spermatids per tubule. In azoospermic patients with epididymal obstruction, the sperm count after vasoepididymostomy could be predicted correctly by testicle biopsy. In severely oligospermic patients (less than 10,000,000 sperm/ml) the presence of more than 20 mature spermatids per tubule indicated partial epididymal obstruction.