[Gonadotropic insufficiency in men with disorders of spermatogenesis]

The results of the investigation of 111 male patients with azoospermia, oligozoospermia and asthenoteratozoospermia revealed gonadotropic insufficiency in 28 (25.2%). The mean level of LH in the peripheral blood of the patients (4.36 +/- 0.70 IU/l) did not differ significantly from the indices in the control group (5.71 +/- 0.64 IU/l). The blood FSH level (0.86 +/- 0.13 IU/l) was significantly lower than the control one (4.48 +/- 0.44 IU/l), p less than 0.001. The level of testosterone in 14 patients was within normal. The clinical signs of hypogonadism were slightly expressed, gynecomastia and anosmia were absent. In 6 of 11 patients the response of FSH to LH-RH i. v. injection was either absent or sharply decreased. The LH response was absent in 2 patients. A conclusion has been made that disorder of spermatogenesis can be the only noticeable manifestation of isolated insufficiency of FSH secretion by the pituitary gland.