Assessing Antisperm Antibody Changes after Testicular Sperm Extraction in Patients Referring to Ali ibn Abi Talib Hospital

Testicular sperm can be successfully recovered by testicular sperm extraction (TESE) and used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Disturbance in the testicular blood barrier can lead to the production of anti-sperm antibodies (ASA). This prospective study aimed to determine changes in the level of anti-sperm antibodies in TSTE surgery.

In this prospective longitudinal study, 20 patients undergoing TESE surgery were included via purpose-based and accessible sampling. Patients were operated on according to the same surgical procedure. Firstly, demographic data, such as age, were recorded. The amount of anti-sperm antibodies was checked before surgery, and the patients were followed up for one month, and this amount was measured again after the end of one month. The changes in antibodies were investigated before and after one month. In addition, the relationship of the level of antibodies with demographic data and the type of disease was investigated. Anti-sperm antibodies in this study was investigated using Mixed Antiglobulin Reaction (MAR) and Immunobead Test (IBT) methods, and the type of antibody measured was IgG type. The abnormal level of IgG anti-sperm antibody was considered greater than or equal to 10%, signifying that more than or equal to 10% of the sperms are covered by IgG. Finally, the obtained results were analyzed in SPSS software.

The findings of this research pointed out that the levels of abnormal antisperm antibody 5% and 20% before and after TESE surgery, respectively. Based on the results of the chi-square test, these changes were significant. In addition, age and body mass index had no significant relationship with the level of anti-sperm antibody.

As evidenced by the obtained results, the TESE surgery can increase serum ASA levels; nonetheless, it is suggested to assess this issue in future studies in a higher statistical population. One of the limitations of the present study was the lack of examination of the sexual partners of the study subjects. It is suggested to measure the ASA level in couples before and after the intervention due to the importance of the study in the fertility chances of the subjects and examine the correlation of ASA changes with semen analysis parameters.