These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Fertility in males with sickle cell disease.
    Author: Osegbe DN, Akinyanju O, Amaku EO.
    Journal: Lancet; 1981 Aug 08; 2(8241):275-6. PubMed ID: 6114323.
    Abstract:
    40 male patients aged 17 years and older and attending the routine sickle cell outpatient clinic at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, were studied to evaluate the fertility potential of men with sickle cell disease. Their hemoglobin types were determined by cellulose acetate electrophoresis at pH 8.9. They were in the stable phase of their disease during the study. The history taken included information on age, marital status, sexual experience, and whether the patient had fathered a child. During the physical examination a note was made of the presence of varicocele and prostatic infection. Semen produced by masturbation after 4-5 days of sexual continence was collected in the laboratory in wide-necked bottles. It was tested as soon as it liquefied for semen volume, viscosity, pH, liquefaction time, sperm density, motility, and morphology. Sperm morphology was examined after supravital staining. Evaluation of sperm quality and quantity was based on the guidelines suggested by Eliasson and Freud. Semen analysis was repeated after 2 weeks or more and the mean of the 2 results was taken for analysis. The patients' mean age was 20.56 years. None of the subjects had a varicocele or clinical evidence of urinary tract infection. 4 patients were married. All had barren marriages, but 3 claimed to have had children extramaritally. Of the 36 unmarried patients, 10 had had coitus before, and 1 claimed to have a child. 23 patients provided semen for analysis. The ejaculate volume ranged from 0.2-6 ml. The sperm density varied from 0-98 million/ml. The mean total sperm count was 52.67 millions/ejaculate. The seminal fluid profiles were compared with those of 25 fertile male controls whose wives were 3 months pregnant and attending antenatal clinics in the same hospital. No semen sample from the sickle cell subjects met the generally accepted minimum requirement for fertility, i.e., 20 million sperms per ml, of which at least 40% should be alive and at least 60% should be well formed. Comparison between the fertile male controls and the sickle cell subjects showed no significant difference in enjaculate volumes, but there were striking differences in sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, and morphology. Infertility seems to be a greater problem among males than females with sickle cell disease, because such men rarely have fathered children, whereas many women with sickle cell disease have had sucessful pregnancies.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]