ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of chromosomal abnormalities in relation to sperm concentration in subfertile oligozoospermic men. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Two teaching hospitals. PATIENT(S): We retrospectively studied all men who received chromosomal analysis prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment from 2000 to 2010 in two teaching hospitals. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The results of chromosomal analysis and semen analysis were recorded. The frequency of abnormal karyotypes was analyzed in relation to the sperm concentration, categorized as extreme oligozoospermia (>0 to ≤1 million/mL), severe oligozoospermia (>1 to ≤5 million/mL), moderate oligozoospermia (>5 to ≤20 million/mL), or normospermia (>20 million/mL). RESULT(S): Among 582 male ICSI candidates, the rates of abnormal karyotypes were 1.2% (2/162), 2.2% (5/227), and 1.5% (2/130) for men with extreme, severe, and moderate oligozoospermia, respectively. No abnormalities were present in normospermic men. CONCLUSION(S): The risk of conceiving a viable child with unbalanced structural chromosomal abnormalities in men with oligozoospermia may not justify karyotyping.