Infertility in a patient with abnormal spermatogenesis and in utero DES exposure

A young azoospermic patient is described whose spermatogenesis reflected an abnormality of meiosis. A diagnosis of asynapsis of chromosome during early spermatogenesis was made by cytogenetic examination of a testicular biopsy. Standard histologic examination gave no indication of this abnormality. An incidental history of intrauterine diethylstilbesterol (DES) exposure of the patient was elicited. Attention is called to the dearth of cytogenetic studies of spermatogenesis in DES-treated male progeny and the usefulness in general meiotic cytognetic studies for obtaining accurate diagnoses in human fertility.