Objective: To explore the relationship between the patients' high follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) azoospermia and microdeletions in Y chromosome.
Methods: Eleven sequence tagged sites (STSs) in Yq were detected by PCR in 16 male patients' high FSH azoospermia.
Results: Microdeletions were observed in 6 of 16 male patients and the deletion rate was 37.5%(6/16). Five types of microdeletions were detected: AZFc(SY152), AZFc (SY152+SY254)+AZFd (SY153), AZFc (SY152+SY254+SY255)+AZFd (SY153), AZFc (SY152+SY158+SY255)+AZFd (SY153),and AZFb (SY130)+AZFc (SY158+SY254+SY255)+AZFd (SY153) respectively.
Conclusion: Microdeletion of Y chromosome was one of the important reasons of the patients' high FSH azoospermia. Before the application of assisted-reproductive technology (ART) to the patients, it is necessary to detect the microdeletions, especially AZFc and AZFd.