ABSTRACT
Testicular biopsy is utilized to assess testicular spermatogenesis qualitatively in the infertile male. The value of this procedure was demonstrated in the 1940s by early reports from Charny (1) and Hotchkiss (2). The primary role of testis biopsy is to distinguish patients with ductal obstruction who are candidates for reconstructive surgery from patients with ablative testicular pathology that is not amenable to conventional therapies. Very little has changed over the last 60 years regarding the surgical technique, methods of processing tissue, and interpretation of the histopathology; however, with the advent of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and published results of live births achieved with testicular sperm (3), the indications for performing testis biopsy have expanded.
