Andrology today

Andrology is an interdisciplinary field of medicine which developed in the second half of this century. Schirren was the first one to use this term. In Hungary, andrology was established by Jenö Molnár. Certain question of topical interest of andrology are discussed in the present study. Besides the endocrinologically well definable male hypogonadism caused by primary lesions of the hypothalamus-pituitary-testis-androgen periphery system andrological anomalies of known or unknown origin also occur in a great number of cases. As collective designation the use of "consecutive hypogonadisms" is recommended for these conditions. Other endocrine and non-endocrine disturbances, injuries of the male gonad system caused by drug therapy, environmental noxa and unknown factors may be ranged also into this group. In vitro fertilization applied in certain cases of infertility and cryostorage of human embryo pose several problems even to the andrologist. The development of an effective and harmless male contraceptive has to be realized in the future. The diagnosis of male climacteric may be assessed only after excluding other diseases. For the treatment of this condition low doses of androgen preparations are recommended.