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Dyspermia and testicular artery peak systolic velocity
Giulio Biagiotti1, Giovanni Vitali, Giorgio Cavallini
1Reproductive Medicine Unit, Società Italiana Studi di Medicina della Riproduzione (S.I.S.ME.R), Bologna, Italy.
Objective:
To compare reliability of peak systolic velocity (PSV), end diastolic velocity (EDV), resistivity index (RI) of testicular arteries, folliculostimulating hormone (FSH) and testicular volume in the differential diagnosis of dyspermias.
Patients And Methods:
Testicle volume, FSH, PSV, EDV, and RI were compared with analysis of variance among the following patients or controls: 9 obstructive azoospermic (OA), 20 non obstructive (NOA), 17 oligoasthenospermic varicoceles + male accessory glands inflammation (MAGI), 38 undetermined oligoasthenospermic, 19 MAGI, 11 varicoceles, 32 subjects with normal sperm analysis who recently fathered (fertile controls), and 15 subjects with normal sperm analysis with varicocele who recently fathered.
Results:
Only PSV and RI proved to be selective for the different classes of patients, while EDV, FSH and testicle volume did not. Varicoceles, varicoceles + MAGI and fertile varicoceles showed the highest PSV and RI; fertile controls, OAs and MAGIs displayed similar PSV and RI; undetermined patients displayed significantly lower PSV and RI, NOAs' PSV and RI proved to be the lowest.
Conclusions:
RI and PSV proved to be a reliable tool to be routinely used in the clinical study of infertile/dyspermic males, whereas EDV, FSH and testicle volume did not.