[Reversible and irreversible azoospermia after irradiation of the malign tumor of the testicle (author's transl)].

Of the patients who had received radiotherapy for malignant testicular tumors between May 1957 and December 1975, 100 were alive without recurrence and without previous chemotherapy at the time of this study. An evaluable ejaculate could be examined in 52 of these patients. The patients were divided into eight groups according to the radiation fields employed. In this manner a direct correlation between the radiation field distribution, which determined the field size, and the development of azoospermia could be made. The appearance of azoospermia was also temporally related to the onset of radiotherapy. This is not the result of a tumor induced hormonal alteration. It is caused by destruction of the spermatogonia, the precursor cells of spermatozoa, and a resulting failure of spermatogenesis. This azoospermia is dependent on the irradiation received by the healthy testicle and may therefore be partially or totaly reversible or irreversible.