Data point: STAR worked?!
Throwaway, but just wanted to share this since there isn't a lot of information out there on the web.
Our background: diagnosed with non obstructive azoospermia 3 years ago. Zero sperm in 2 samples, no genetic markers found. Did two mTESE retrieval surgeries:
- 15 found, 4 twitching, 2 low quality embryos, neither took.
- 4 found, 2 twitching, neither survived to day 3.
After two unsuccessful attempts, we decided it wasn't worth the physical or emotional cost to continue.
We took a year off from trying to start a family to process/grieve. But then a few months ago we heard about STAR: basically it's a new technology that uses AI to find sperm from a sample, with a higher success rate than humans.
We flew to NY for the procedure (since it was only done at Columbia University). We went in without much hope, but we figured that especially compared to the surgeries, $3k wasn't a lot to pay to be able to say that we really tried everything.
They found 220 sperm! I couldn't believe it, we were just dumbfounded. Weeks later I think it's still sinking in. We still know nothing about the quality of the sperm yet, but we're tentatively hopeful. Will report back on a few months on how it goes.