Now this is shocking: A survey of more than 2,000 couples seen at U.S. fertility clinics showed that three-fourths of the men had not undergone a fertility workup, even though male infertility contributes to half of all infertility cases. In the subgroup of 1,537 couples without a workup of the male partner, 17% had a history of assisted reproduction procedures, …
A new study presented at ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Society’s 100th annual meeting in Chicago, IL, found that low sperm count may not only be a problem for fertility, but is also a marker for a man’s general health.
The study looked at 5,177 male partners of infertile couples in Italy and found that low sperm counts were associated with …
An Argentinian review of multiple animal studies is suggesting that antihistamines, found in common allergy medications, may affect male fertility. The study, published in the journal Reproduction, found that antihistamine use could decrease sperm motility and alter sperm morphology.
The study found several papers that reported impaired testicular function in animal studies after antihistamine exposure. These papers found that …
When sperm wash techniques were first developed with a medium called Ham’s F10 artifical insemination was revolutionized. Prior to that time all that was available was cup insemination (ICI) or injection into the cervical mucus which itself was often the problem. Over the years culture media has vastly improved but the technique of actually performing the procedure was relatively standard …
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving the sale and marketing of clomiphene citrate (Clomid) for the “treatment of ovulatory dysfunction in women desiring pregnancy”. At the time, this was a huge breakthrough for couples who were desperate to conceive their own child. For many patients, it was a “wonder drug”.
Prior to …
A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association journal reports a greater risk of heart failure and stroke in women who did not become pregnant after undergoing gonadotropin-based fertility treatment. The study looked at over 28,000 women, who underwent fertility treatment with injectable medications between 1993 and 2011 in Ontario, Canada. Women who did not conceive with treatment had …
In a paper published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, a team of Swedish researchers report that having kids is associated with an increase in life expectancy, especially as we age. According to the new work, 60-year-old women with children had a remaining life expectancy of 24.6 years, compared with 23.1 years for those who do not have …
Prescription medications can adversely affect male fertility.
Researchers at Stanford determined that certain classes of antihypertensive medications have a deleterious effect on male fertility. Using a national database of insurance claims filed in the US for patients with employer-provided coverage, they extracted data on men who had taken antihypertensive drugs, whose diagnosis or treatment codes suggested infertility. They compared the …
There is a very good review of the effects of endometriosis on fertility and the rationale for various types of treatment including surgery, injectable medications with IUI and eventually IVF.
Endometriosis creates an inflammatory environment in the pelvis and reproductive system, leading to the development of adhesions (scar tissues) and endometriomas (cysts known as chocolate cysts), which cause chronic pelvic …
This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.
RPMG’s Dr. Bill Yee has maintained that …