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.