Disease spectrum and treatment patterns in a local male infertility clinic.

OBJECTIVE

To review disease spectrum and treatment patterns in a local male infertility clinic.

DESIGN

Case series.

SETTING

Male infertility clinic in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong.

PATIENTS

Patients who were seen as new cases in a local male infertility clinic between January 2008 and December 2012.

INTERVENTION

Infertility assessment and counselling on treatment options.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Disease spectrum and treatment patterns.

RESULTS

A total of 387 new patients were assessed in the male infertility clinic. The mean age of the patients and their female partners was 37.2 and 32.1 years, respectively. The median duration of infertility was 3 years. Among the patients, 36.2% had azoospermia, 8.0% had congenital absence of vas deferens, and 48.3% of patients had other abnormalities in semen parameters. The commonest causes of male infertility were unknown (idiopathic), clinically significant varicoceles, congenital absence of vas deferens, mumps after puberty, and erectile or ejaculatory dysfunction. Overall, 66.1% of patients chose assisted reproductive treatment and 12.4% of patients preferred surgical correction of reversible male infertility conditions. Altogether 36.7% of patients required either surgical sperm retrieval or correction of male infertility conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study provided important local data on the disease spectrum and treatment patterns in a male infertility clinic. The incidences of azoospermia and congenital absence of vas deferens were much higher than those reported in the contemporary literature. A significant proportion of patients required either surgical sperm retrieval or correction of reversible male infertility conditions.