FSH: follicle-stimulating hormone; LH: luteinizing hormone
The patients included in our study were men aged 18-50 years with a history of infertility for more than one year, who presented with oligo and/or asthenia and/or teratospermia, but no varicocele or other disease that could affect fertility. A complete examination was performed in each patient to exclude other causes of infertility (anamnesis, physical examination, scrotal Doppler ultrasound, and hormone analysis). The fertile female partners were under the age of 40 years and had regular menstrual cycles, and the couples were not intending to undergo a fertility-related procedure for the following 90 days.
The exclusion criteria were known hypersensitivity to any treatment compound, presence of undescended testicular or history of testicular cancer, hormonal diseases, history of post-pubertal mumps, genitourinary surgery, obstructive azoospermia or obstructive pathologies of the urogenital system, autoimmune diseases, cystic fibrosis, any treatment that would affect fertility within the last six months, excessive alcohol consumption or regular use of illegal or recreational drugs, following a special diet, participation in any clinical research, and any other condition that could put the patient at risk by participating in the study according to the researcher, and patients participating in any other clinical trial.
The endpoints of the study were sperm concentration, semen volume, total sperm count, total motility, progressive motility, and percentage of normal sperm morphology.
Statistical analysis:
Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS version 17. The normal distribution of variables was examined using histogram graphics and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Mean, standard deviation and median values ​​were used when presenting descriptive statistics.
For the inter-group comparison of data that did not show a normal distribution (non-parametric), the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted. Changes in measured values ​​within the groups were evaluated with the Wilcoxon test. Results where the p value was below 0.05 were evaluated as statistically significant.