Infertility research explores linkage to all-cause mortality, psychiatric disorders

A number of studies at the 2014 AUA annual meeting will indicate that male infertility is a harbinger of other diseases, specifically suggesting “linkage to all-cause mortality, psychiatric disorders, morbidity, and offspring birth defect risk,” said James M. Hotaling, MD, assistant professor of surgery in the division of urology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

This article is part of the State of Urology 2014

Dr. HotalingA number of studies will indicate that male infertility is a harbinger of other diseases, specifically suggesting “linkage to all-cause mortality, psychiatric disorders, morbidity, and offspring birth defect risk,” said James M. Hotaling, MD, MS, assistant professor of surgery in the division of urology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

In technical aspects of infertility management, watch for new techniques to quantify, prognosticate, or improve the yield of sperm extraction, Dr. Hotaling advised. These include examination of a novel biomarker for spermatogenesis, quantification of sperm retrieval rates for men with maturational arrest, new video techniques for detecting motile sperm, and evaluation of impaired spermatogenesis with spectral Doppler ultrasound.

Important new research will shed light on the diagnosis and workup of varicocele as well.

“[Abstracts are] specifically examining the role of ultrasound in diagnosis, the role of varicocele prior to assisted reproductive technology and whether it is beneficial in subfertile men with normal semen parameters, the role of antioxidants, and novel methods to image the testicular artery,” Dr. Hotaling said.

Here are Dr. Hotaling's top abstract choices for AUA 2014:

MP68-16: Abnormal Epididymal T1 Signal on Preoperative Scrotal MRI Predicts Surgical Approach of Vasal Reconstruction
David Sisul

PD24-08: Which is the best treatment for hypogonadotropic hypogonadism azoospermic men in Japan?
Yoshitomo Kobori

PD24-11: Comparison of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes between ejaculated and testicular extracted spermatozoa in couples with recurrent implantation failure

Mehmet Murad Basar

MP68-01: Semen quality, infertility, and mortality in the United States
Michael Eisenberg

MP68-05: Klinefelter’s Syndrome: An Underdiagnosed and Undertreated Cause of Male Infertility
Daniel T. Oberlin

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