A theoretical model for testis thermoregulation.

Studies going back as far as the early 1920's show that there is a clear relationship between testis temperature and semen quality. The most intriguing question is whether there is a mechanism of thermoregulation which, in the human, maintains testis temperature within certain limits that permit euspermia. Thermoregulation is defined as maintaining some specified (optimum?) temperature plus or minus an error over internal and ambient loss factors.

Measurement of intrascrotal temperature in normal and subfertile men.

Intrascrotal temperatures were measured bilaterally by a non-invasive method in 300 subfertile men (mean sperm count 21.4 x 10(6)/ml) and 30 normospermic control men (mean sperm count 118.7 x 10(6)/ml).

Chronic scrotal hypothermia: results in 90 infertile couples.

We studied the use of a testicular hypothermia device worn daily for at least 16 weeks in 64 men with subfertile semen and elevated testicular temperature, who had had an infertile marriage for 2 or more years in which the wife was judged fertile. Improvement in 1 or more semen parameters was seen in 42 patients (65.6 per cent).

Scrotal hypothermia: new therapy for poor semen.

A relation between experimental elevation of testis temperature and poor semen has been known for over sixty years. Poor semen from elevated temperature due to intrinsic abnormality of testis thermoregulation has been a recent concept. A testicular hypothermia device (THD) was created which when worn by "hard core" infertile males with varicocele, failed varicocelectomy, or "subclinical" varicocele resulted in lowering of temperature with improvement in semen in many.

Further clinical experience with testis hypothermia for infertility due to poor semen.

Chronic scrotal hypothermia to 25 patients with infertility and elevated testis temperature resulted in varying degrees of improvement over their pretreatment poor semen in 16/25. Pregnancy occurred in 6/25 "hard core" infertile couples (mean period of infertility 6.0 years) after wearing an evaporative scrotal cooling device for sixteen hours daily for a mean of 14.

Chronic scrotal hypothermia as a treatment for poor semen quality.

Six men with infertile marriages associated with poor semen and raised testicular temperature were treated by an experimental appliance which exploits evaporation to obtain normal testicular temperatures. This was worn with little discomfort for as long as 24 h a day and for periods as long as 20 weeks. Three wives became pregnant while their husbands were on treatment.