A small study showed that men with a specific type of infertility (high FSH, no sperm) can sometimes start making sperm again when they take a GnRH agonist (triptorelin) to calm the pituitary, followed by hormone shots (menotropin) to stimulate the testes. In both cases, sperm showed up, hormone levels improved, and after IVF with their partners, the couples had healthy babies. The approach could be an alternative to surgical sperm retrieval, but it’s based on only two patients and needs medical oversight.

Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is the most severe form of male factor infertility. It results form from either primary or secondary testicular failure. Here, we report cases of two patients with NOA due to maturation arrest and increased serum FSH, treated with GnRH agonist and gonadotrophins. The two NOA patients underwent a pharmacological treatment consisting of pituitary desensibilization using a GnRH agonist and testicular stimulation using menotropin. Testicular stimulation started one month after the beginning of GnRH agonist treatment. The female partner underwent controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). On the third day of the cycle, menotropin daily doses was administered. When at least one follicle ≥14 mm was visualized, pituitary blockage was performed using GnRH antagonist ganirelix. When three or more follicles attained a mean diameter of ≥17 mm, triptorelin acetate was administered to trigger final follicular maturation. Oocyte retrieval was performed 35 hours later. After treatment, male partner blood levels of the FSH, LH, decreased and total testosterone were increased. Spermatozoa was observed after semen collection in both cases. After COS, oocytes were retrieved and ICSI was performed. Embryos were biopsied for preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) and those considered euploidy were transferred resulting in positive implantation, ongoing pregnancy, and livebirth on both cases. In this report we present a successful strategy for hypergonadotropic hypogonadism AOA men, as an alternative approach to the surgical testicular sperm recovery. Nevertheless, prospective randomized trials are needed to confirm our findings.