Evaluation of endocrine parameters and semen samples: pregnancies following conservative infertility treatment versus IVF therapy.

IVF techniques have recently attracted interest as a possible treatment of male subfertility. In order to clarify if semen profiles of men fathering a child after IVF differ significantly from those patients initiating a pregnancy after timed intercourse or AIH, we retrospectively compared sperm parameters in 67 males whose female partners were treated by IVF with those of 102 couples treated conservatively. In all male partners stimulation tests for FSH and LH, TSH and prolactin (PRL) had been performed as well as measurement of testosterone (T) levels. No significant differences were revealed for mean values of any of the classical semen parameters: volume, concentration, vitality, motility, normal morphology and results of the hypoosmotic swelling test between groups for men initiating a conception. Endocrine evaluation of the male patients detected no major hormonal imbalances associated with specific subnormal sperm parameters although regression analyses demonstrated relationships between semen volume and TSH as well as T, and between sperm concentration and PRL as well as FSH levels. We conclude that IVF techniques are not superior to cycle optimization with timed insemination in the treatment of andrological subfertility.