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Testis and epididymis
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Infertility


Turki Al-Hussain, M.D.

Topic Completed: 1 August 2012

Revised: 27 March 2019

Copyright: 2002-2018, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

PubMed Search: Infertility [title] Testis and epididymis

Turki Al-Hussain, M.D.
Page views in 2019: 1,174
Page views in 2020 to date: 146
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Diagrams / tables | Microscopic (histologic) images | Additional references
Cite this page: Al-Hussain T. Infertility. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/testisinfertility.html. Accessed February 21st, 2020.
Definition / general
  • Causes: pretesticular, testicular, posttesticular
  • Pretesticular: extragonadal endocrine disorders (hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal); includes elevated prolactin levels (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1984;108:35)
  • Testicular: little treatment currently available
  • Posttesticular: duct obstruction (congenital, inflammatory, postsurgical); surgical treatment often successful since spermatogenesis is normal
  • Note: impaired sperm motility due to epididymal or immunologic factors is considered posttesticular
  • Evaluation: history and physical examination, semen analysis, WBC count in semen, detection of antisperm antibodies, sperm function tests (cervical mucus interaction, ova penetration, hemizonal assay)
  • Testicular biopsy is helpful for azoospermia without endocrine abnormalities
  • RNA binding motif: nuclear immunostain identifies spermatogenesis in biopsies that appear to be Sertoli cell only (Hum Pathol 2001;32:36)
Diagrams / tables

Images hosted on other servers:

Classification of human spermatogenesis

Microscopic (histologic) images

Images hosted on other servers:

Tissue handling artifacts

Various images

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