Design: A retrospective and prospective study of brothers who were treated for infertility at 2 institutions, during the years 1975 to 1999.Materials and Methods: Thirty-three brothers with infertility from 14 families were identified. Twenty-eight had been treated for infertility, 5 were unmarried, but revealed a low sperm count. All the patients were evaluated by repeated semen analysis, gonadotropins, testosterone, prolactin, testicular biopsy in azoospermics and severe oligospermics chromosomal analysis and genetic study of Y-deletions, in 3 families.Results: Eight families with 17 brothers revealed the same semen analysis of azo-or oligospermia (51%). The other 6 families had brothers with a mixed picture of azoospermia and oligospermia. Brothers who underwent a testicular biopsy revealed different types of histology, except in 2 families with azoospermias. Studies of Y chromosome deletions in 3 families showed 2 brothers with an AZF c deletion in one family. FSH levels were similar among 15 brothers of 7 families (45%) and different among the rest. Nine brothers were diagnosed of having a severe left varicocele (27%) and 6 had an orchidopexy (18%). No brother of 7 Kleinefelter patients had male infertility. There were no brothers with infertility among 7 patients with Kleinefelter's syndrome.Conclusions: The occurrence of male infertility among brothers is of clinical importance. The patterns seen were either of an identical pathology or of a mixed form, suggesting etiologies as genetic, congenital, vascular, acquired, etc., presented in a familial form.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.