from Section 2 - Clinical Evaluation of the Infertile Male
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 July 2023
Infertility is generally defined as the inability to achieve conception after 12 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse (World Health Organization (WHO)) [1]. It is estimated that approximately one-third of infertility cases are due to male factor infertility, another one-third due to female factor infertility, and the remainder due to combined male and female factors or unexplained cause(s). A recent large cross-sectional study suggests that about 10.1 percent of men experience infertility [2], and in a birth cohort study, in men aged 38 years, male infertility ranged from 14.4 to 21.8 percent [3]. Endocrine causes of male infertility are surprisingly infrequent, given that fertility is dependent on an intact hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular (HPT) axis (see Chapter 4) for adequate spermatogenesis. Systemic endocrine diseases and disturbances of the HPT axis comprise approximately 2 to 5 percent of causes of male infertility [4, 5]. Though uncommon, endocrine causes of infertility are important to diagnose, as specific treatment is available in most cases to ameliorate the clinical symptoms of hypogonadism and, in some instances, for treatment of infertility. Understanding the underlying endocrine etiology of infertility allows for shared decision-making in the management of a couple with infertility; furthermore, certain conditions may have serious health consequences if left untreated. Evaluation of endocrine causes is essential when investigating male factor infertility.
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