Analysis of Y chromosome microdeletion in 1738 infertile men from northeastern China.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequencies and the characteristics of Y chromosome microdeletion in infertile men from northeastern China to perform appropriate therapeutic choices.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 1738 infertile men. Sperm concentration was measured according to standard methods and karyotype analysis was performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes with standard G-banding. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction amplification using 9 specific sequence-tagged sites were selected to detect Y chromosome microdeletions.

RESULTS: The data showed that the frequency of Y chromosome microdeletion was 8.57%. The most common microdeletion, among the azoospermia factor (AZF) regions, was detected in the AZFc region, followed by AZFb+c, AZFb, AZFa+b+c, AZFa, and AZFa+c. One-hundred seven patients with Y chromosome microdeletion developed azoospermia, 39 developed severe oligozoospermia (sperm concentration ≤5 × 10(6)/mL), and 3 developed moderate oligozoospermia (sperm concentration >5 × 10(6)/mL and ≤10 × 10(6)/mL). Karyotype analysis was available for 130 patients with Y chromosome microdeletion and abnormal karyotypes were found in 19 patients (14.6%). The most frequent abnormal karyotype was 46,X,Yqh-(n = 7).

CONCLUSION: In northeastern China, Y chromosome microdeletion diagnosis should be performed before the use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in infertile men with sperm count ≤10 × 10(6)/mL, especially in men with azoospermia.