Abstract
The pituitary-testicular axis and spermatogenesis, after puberty, have been evaluated in 93 patients, operated on for cryptorchidism and testicular ectopia, by the assessment of plasma testosterone, gonadotropins after GnRH stimulation and semen analysis. 12 healthy males formed the control group. Only bilateral cryptorchid patients showed abnormalities in the pituitary-Leydig cell axis with significantly higher basal and stimulated LH values than controls. Oligospermia was more frequent in cryptorchid cases (48%) than in ectopia (13%) and was accompanied by a significant increase of FSH concentration compared to controls. No relation was found between age at operation and sperm count. These data suggest that cryptorchidism and ectopia have different consequences on hormonal status and fertility.
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