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Does mirabegron deteriorate spermatogenesis? A lesson from spinal cord injury cases
Hiroshi Okada1, Tadahiko Tokumoto1, Akiyoshi Osaka1
1Department of Urology, Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Koshigaya, Japan.
Objectives:
To evaluate whether the long-term usage of mirabegron, which was reported to have potential side effects on male reproductive organs in animal studies, was harmful to spermatogenesis in human testis.
Methods:
Thirty consecutive patients with spinal cord injury (20-48 years old) who performed clean intermittent catheterization were involved in this study. Ten patients were treated with mirabegron (50 mg/d) for more than 2 years and refrained from using an antimuscarinic agent due to the side effects of constipation and dry mouth. Twenty patients were treated with neither anticholinergic agents nor mirabegron. All underwent conventional testicular sperm extraction. The sperm recovery rate and histopathologic findings of the retrieved testicular tissue were compared between both groups.
Results:
We found no difference in the sperm recovery rate (P = .083) between both groups. Spinal cord injury patients treated with mirabegron had better spermatogenesis than those not treated with mirabegron (P < .05).
Conclusions:
From these data, we conclude that the therapeutic dose of mirabegron had no harmful effect on spermatogenesis in spinal cord injury patients of reproductive age.
