Male Partners of Infertile Couples with Congenital Unilateral Absence of the Vas Deferens are mainly Non-Azoospermic.

A new interesting article has been published in Andrology. 2019 Dec 24. doi: 10.1111/andr.12749. and titled:

Male Partners of Infertile Couples with Congenital Unilateral Absence of the Vas Deferens are mainly Non-Azoospermic.

Authors of this article are:

Mieusset R, Bieth E, Daudin M, Isus F, Delaunay B, Bujan L, Monteil L, Fauquet I, Huyghe E, Hamdi SM.

A summary of the article is shown below:

BACKGROUND: Men with congenital unilateral absence of vas deferens (CUAVD) were reported to be mainly azoospermic, with both unilateral renal absence (URA) and mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) but some have neither.OBJECTIVES: To assess whether in infertile couples the male partners with CUAVD are mainly azoospermic men.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study in a unique university hospital; reproductive, clinical, CFTR analysis and seminal data of male partners of infertile couples (from 1998 to 2018) were analyzed. Diagnosis of CUAVD was based on transrectal ultrasounds (TRUS): complete or partial absence of one vas deferens (VD) with complete contralateral VD confirmed in 63 men. Distribution of sperm count in 3 classes: azoospermia, oligozoospermia or normozoospermia. Ultrasound determination of renal status; seminal biomarkers assays; search for CFTR mutations.RESULTS: Among the 63 men 39.7% displayed azoospermia, 27% oligozoospermia and 33.3% normozoospermia; 42% of the non azoospermic men (16/38) had previously obtained a natural pregnancy. We found URA in 17/59 patients (29%). Among 50 men with CFTR testing 5 carried an allele associated with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) belonging to the 29 men without renal anomalies, indicating a high allelic frequency (8.6%). The 63 patients displayed high rates of surgical histories for undescended testicles or inguinal hernia, low values of semen volume and of total seminal glycerophosphocholine.CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that men with CUAVD mainly display oligozoospermia or normozoospermia and that they were previously fertile. They clearly confirm, first, that CFTR testing is recommended in CUAVD men and it should be mandatory for those with normal kidneys; and, second, that TRUS is needed for the diagnosis of CUAVD. As CUAVD may be present whatever the sperm count, biological warnings are represented by semen volume and seminal epididymal markers, and clinical warnings by surgical histories of undescended testes or inguinal hernia.© 2019 American Society of Andrology and European Academy of Andrology.

Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:

[link-preview url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31872980 forceshot=true]

This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: CFTR mutations; Vas deferens; infertility; seminal plasma; sperm count.

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