NOA Mtese Success After Chemotherapy
Hi everyone,
This sub has been incredibly helpful to my wife (30) and me (28) as we navigate the IVF process with severe MFI – NOA. Thank you all. I wanted to share our experience so far. FYI—my wife and I share this account.
After getting chemotherapy (4 rounds BEACOPP and 2 rounds ABVD) at age 17 for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, I knew I had azoospermia for years. I cryopreserved three vials of semen before starting treatment, but because my cancer was so advanced, they were low quality (immotile).
My wife and I tried a round of IVF using my cryopreserved samples in spring 2025 at Cornell in NYC. Four fertilized with an experimental technique known as oocyte activation. Unfortunately, all four embryos arrested and none were viable. (The Expect Miracles Foundation helped finance the cost of our treatment, and we highly recommend this organization to any cancer survivors who need financial help during IVF.)
All doctors recommended doing an mTESE as our next step, but, after numerous SAs with zero sperm found, we weren’t too optimistic. My FSH was 12 and my LH was 14. My inhibin B was 32. I also had low testicular volume consistent with “mild atrophy” according to my doctor, although I don’t remember the exact numbers.
We needed to maximize the chance of success. We started out by repairing my varicocele in August 2025 in Dubai. My doctor was wary of giving me Accutane given my medical history and he thought I likely had SCOS, but we advocated for ourselves and he eventually agreed, giving me 20mg daily (though the study had participants take 40).
We also took a kitchen sink approach to supplements from the time of my varicocele repair until the mTESE. I was on Proxeed Plus, Lycopene, NAC, COQ10, Theralogix Solo multivitamin, and Fish oil. Tried exercising more but didn’t make a meaningful change there (I’m already healthy BMI and lead a relatively active lifestyle). Barely drank any alcohol also.
March 2026: Tried STAR but found zero sperm. This was a really low point for both of us.
May 2026: On the morning of the mTESE, we were convinced it wasn’t going to work (doctors told me there’s a 20-30% chance, but I thought they were being nice). We had selected a donor backup as we were ready to start our family one way or another. I think that helped us psychologically.
When I woke up from surgery, they told me they found “hundreds” of sperm and only needed to operate on one “area” of one side. We were shocked.
The next day, my wife went in for her egg retrieval. We got 10 eggs, 9 of which were mature. 8 fertilized normally and four of our embryos made it to blast. They also froze 2 vials of my semen from the mTESE. They used oocyte activation again this round.
We transferred one of our four blastocysts, and today, my wife got a positive pregnancy test result.
Recovery: I was extremely scared before my surgery but to be honest, the recovery is not bad. There’s pain the first two days but within five days I felt normal again. Ice is the best thing for it.
Advice/Reflection: This community has a been a great resource for us and we learned a lot. We did find however, that spending too much time researching and scrolling the subreddit was actually harmful to our mental health. Eventually, it’s important to recognize when you’ve learned everything that you can and let the doctors take over. Infertility can dominate your life and define you if you let it. We did couple’s therapy throughout this whole process, and it has been incredibly valuable.
I want to think this community and wish you all good luck. I can answer any questions here in the comments. Cheers.