Background: Infertility is an ever-increasing problem in today's world. It can be due to male or female causes. Azoospermia seen in 5-10% of infertile men is due to obstructive or non-obstructive causes. Traditionally, testicular biopsy is the gold standard for evaluation. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA), however, is minimally invasive, provides qualitative and quantitative information about spermatogenesis, and can aid in assisted reproductive techniques making it a novel technique for the evaluation of male infertility. Objective: We aimed to classify different causes of azoospermia into different patterns based upon FNA, and assess the utility of cell indices in classifying cases into different patterns. Method: We conducted a prospective and a retrospective study of 42 azoospermic males, confirmed on semen analysis, over a period of 5 years. Patients were subjected to FNA of the testes. Smears were prepared, air-dried, wet-fixed, and then stained with May-Grünwald Giemsa and Papanicolaou stains, respectively. Cells were identified using predetermined morphologic criteria, and various indices were calculated followed by statistical analysis of the observations. Re-sults: The mean age of 40 patients who satisfied the adequacy criteria was 32.75 years (range 22-48 years). Thirty-four patients had primary infertility and 6 had secondary infertility. Of these, 12 had normal spermatogenesis, 8 had hypospermatogenesis, 3 had early and 7 had late maturation arrest, 6 had Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS), and there were different results in each testicle in 4 cases. The Sperm Index (SI) was significantly higher in all cases of normal spermatogenesis than in any of the hypo-spermatogenesis cases (p = 0.009). The Sertoli Index (SEI) in cases of hypo-spermatogenesis and maturation arrest was significantly higher than in cases of normal spermatogenesis (p < 0.001). The Sperm-Sertoli Index (SSI) also showed significant differences between cases of hypo-spermatogenesis and normal spermatogenesis (p < 0.001). These indices were useful in categorising patients with azoospermia. Conclusion: FNA helps to easily and accurately identify all types of testicular cells without biopsy. SI, SEI, and SSI are powerful cell indices for assessing the extent of spermatogenesis and classifying various causes of azoospermia. Bilateral sampling and multiple aspirations give a better mapping of spermatogenesis within the testes. Testicular FNA can thus play a very important role in the evaluation of male infertility.
Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) are referred to a group of disorders in which at least two out of gonadal sex, genetic sex, phenotypic sex and genital tract sex show discordance between them. Among the three main categories of DSD, 46XY DSD is a rarer type which we encountered in our case. A 14 year old female presented with abdominal pain and lump since 10 days. On clinical examination she had external sexual characters of a female. Karyotyping revealed a 46XY type. Intra-operatively, there was a normal uterus with a tumor mass in the location of the right gonad which was removed, along with a biopsy taken from the contralateral gonad, both intra-abdominal in location. Histopathologic examination of the tumor mass revealed a malignant mixed germ cell tumour (GCT) comprising of dysgerminoma and yolk sac tumour and the contralateral gonad was found to be testis, with evidence of intratubular germ cell neoplasm unclassified (IGCNU). Patient underwent 4 cycles of chemotherapy after the histopathologic diagnosis but was later lost to follow-up. The relative ambiguity of these disorders with their propensity to develop into type II GCTs makes these cases unique, perplexing and of utmost importance.
Among the various tumours affecting the lacrimal gland, pleomorphic adenomas though most common can present clinically and radiologically as worrisome tumours. Histopathologic diagnosis hence is very critical for these tumours. We present a case of pleomorphic adenoma of the lacrimal gland which we encountered at our institutes. The patient was a 46-year-old male who came with complaints of a gradually progressing swelling in the right eye not associated with much pain or significant loss of vision. MRI revealed a large lobulated extrachoanal mass causing mass effect and scalloping of the adjacent bony structures. An excision biopsy was done and sent for histopathological examination. Histologically the tumour showed a biphasic morphology comprising of epithelial (ductal and myoepithelial) and chondromyxoid stromal components. Immunohistochemistry showed positivity for pan CK and CK 7 in ductal epithelial cells, p63 and S100 in myoepithelial cells and a low Ki67 index. On the basis of immunohistochemistry profile along with clinicoradiological correlation a final diagnosis of pleomorphic adenoma of the lacrimal gland was made. The patient post-surgery was doing well but was lost to follow up. It can thus be seen that is it absolutely necessary to accurately diagnose these benign but clinically misconceiving rare tumours of the lacrimal gland for appropriate management of such patients.
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