Volume 10, Issue 3 (7-2012)                   IJRM 2012, 10(3): 243-248 | Back to browse issues page

XML Persian Abstract Print


Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:

Moradi M, Alemi M, Moradi A, Izadi B, Parhodah F, Torkaman Asadi F. Does inhibin-B help us to confidently refuse diagnostic testicular biopsy in azoospermia?. IJRM 2012; 10 (3) :243-248
URL: http://ijrm.ir/article-1-282-en.html
1- Infertility Research Center, Urology-Nephrology Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran , drmrmoradi@yahoo.com
2- Infertility Research Center, Urology-Nephrology Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
3- Department of Pathology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
4- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran
Abstract:   (2604 Views)
 
Background: In the recent years, the use of laboratory blood factors such as FSH and inhibin-B for the assessment of spermatogenesis in different studies has increased; of course, the conflicting results have also been achieved.
Objective: To investigate if the measurement of inhibin-B can help surgeon to reduce unnecessary diagnostic testicular biopsies in males with azoospermia.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done during July 2006 to September 2007 on 41 patients with azoospermia. FSH and inhibin-B were measured and bilateral open testicular biopsy was performed for all patients.
Results: Sperm was seen in 29% of biopsies that in 100% of these samples inhibin-B was more than 100 pg/mL and FSH was less than twice the normal (p=0.001). Inhibin-B had significant correlation inversely with testicular fibrosis and Sertoli cell only syndrome (p=0.043 and p=0.011, respectively) and directly with incomplete spermatocytic maturation arrest and obstructive azoospermia (p=0.027 and p=0.013, respectively). FSH was only correlated with obstructive azoospermia (p=0.001).
Conclusion: We suggest that if FSH is less than twice the normal, inhibin-B should be measured and if its level is less than 100 pg/mL, we can cancel about the half of unnecessary diagnostic testicular biopsies.
Full-Text [PDF 315 kb]   (679 Downloads) |   |   Full-Text (HTML)  (315 Views)  
Type of Study: Original Article |

References
1. Blasco L, Tureck R. Assessment of the cause of infertility. Ann Clin Lab Sci 1985; 15: 261-269.
2. Wald M, Makhlouf AA, Niederberger CS. Therapeutic testis biopsy for sperm retrieval. Curr Opin Urol 2007; 17: 431-438. [DOI:10.1097/MOU.0b013e3282f0f0b1]
3. Adamopoulos DA, Koukkou EG. 'Value of FSH and inhibin-B measurements in the diagnosis of azoospermia'-a clinician's overview. Int J Androl 2010; 33: 109-113. [DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2605.2009.00980.x]
4. Medraś M, Trzmiel A, Grabowski M, Bohdanowicz-Pawlak A, Zagodzka E. Inhibin B--a marker of the function of male gonad. Ginekol Pol 2005; 76: 484-490.
5. Hu YA, Huang YF. A serum marker of spermatogenesis--inhibin B. Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue 2002; 8: 57-60.
6. Simoni M, Weinbauer GF, Gromoll J, Nieschlag E. Role of FSH in male gonadal function. Ann Endocrinol (Paris) 1999; 60: 102-106.
7. Anderson RA, Wallace EM, Groome NP, Bellis AJ, Wu FC. Physiological relationships between inhibin B, follicle stimulating hormone secretion and spermatogenesis in normal men and response to gonadotrophin suppression by exogenous testosterone. Hum Reprod 1997; 12: 746-751. [DOI:10.1093/humrep/12.4.746]
8. Kolb BA, Stanczyk FZ, Sokol RZ. Serum inhibin B levels in males with gonadal dysfunction. Fertil Steril 2000; 74: 234-238. [DOI:10.1016/S0015-0282(00)00641-5]
9. van Beek RD, Smit M, Van den Heuvel-Eibrink MM, de Jong FH, Hakvoort-Cammel FG, van den Bos C, et al. Inhibin B is superior to FSH as a serum marker for spermatogenesis in men treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma with chemotherapy during childhood. Hum Reprod 2007; 22: 3215-3222. [DOI:10.1093/humrep/dem313]
10. Kumanov P, Nandipati K, Tomova A, Agarwal A. Inhibin B is a better marker of spermatogenesis than other hormones in the evaluation of male factor infertility. Fertil Steril 2006; 86: 332-338. [DOI:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2006.01.022]
11. Ballescá JL, Balasch J, Calafell JM, Alvarez R, Fábregues F, de Osaba MJ, et al. Serum inhibin B determination is predictive of successful testicular sperm extraction in men with non-obstructive azoospermia. Hum Reprod 2000; 15: 1734-1738. [DOI:10.1093/humrep/15.8.1734]
12. Brugo-Olmedo S, De Vincentiis S, Calamera JC, Urrutia F, Nodar F, Acosta AA. Serum inhibin B may be a reliable marker of the presence of testicular spermatozoa in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia. Fertil Steril 2001; 76: 1124-1129. [DOI:10.1016/S0015-0282(01)02866-7]
13. Foppiani L, Schlatt S, Simoni M, Weinbauer GF, Hacker-Klom U, Nieschlag E. Inhibin B is a more sensitive marker of spermatogenetic damage than FSH in the irradiated non-human primate model. J Endocrinol 1999; 162: 393-400. [DOI:10.1677/joe.0.1620393]
14. Mędraś M, Trzmiel-Bira A, Jóźków P, Terpiłowski L, Zagocka E, Sicińska-Werner T. Inhibin B and FSH as markers of Sertoli cell function in impaired spermatogenesis. Endokrynol Pol 2010; 61: 695-698.
15. Andersson AM, Petersen JH, Jørgensen N, Jensen TK, Skakkebaek NE. Serum inhibin B and follicle-stimulating hormone levels as tools in the evaluation of infertile men: significance of adequate reference values from proven fertile men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2004; 89: 2873-2879. [DOI:10.1210/jc.2003-032148]
16. Von Eckardstein S, Simoni M, Bergmann M, Weinbauer GF, Gassner P, Schepers AG, et al. Serum inhibin B in combination with serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is a more sensitive marker than serum FSH alone for impaired spermatogenesis in men, but cannot predict the presence of sperm in testicular tissue samples. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1999; 84: 2496-2501.
17. Ziaee SA, Ezzatnegad M, Nowroozi M, Jamshidian H, Abdi H, Hosseini Moghaddam SM. Prediction of successful sperm retrieval in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia. Urol J 2006; 3: 92-96.
18. Nowroozi MR, Radkhah K, Ayati M, Jamshidian H, Ranjbaran A, Jabalameli P. Serum inhibin B concentration as a prognostic factor for prediction of sperm retrieval in testis biopsy of patients with azoospermia. Arch Iran Med 2008; 11: 54-56.
19. Tunc L, Kirac M, Gurocak S, Yucel A, Kupeli B, Alkibay T, et al. Can serum Inhibin B and FSH levels, testicular histology and volume predict the outcome of testicular sperm extraction in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia? Int Urol Nephrol 2006; 38: 629-635. [DOI:10.1007/s11255-006-0095-1]
20. Halder A, Fauzdar A, Kumar A. Serum inhibin B and follicle-stimulating hormone levels as markers in the evaluation of azoospermic men: a comparison. Andrologia 2005; 37: 173-179. [DOI:10.1111/j.1439-0272.2005.00677.x]
21. Vernaeve V, Tournaye H, Schiettecatte J, Verheyen G, Van Steirteghem A, Devroey P. Serum inhibin B cannot predict testicular sperm retrieval in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia. Hum Reprod 2002; 17: 971-976. [DOI:10.1093/humrep/17.4.971]
22. Goulis DG, Polychronou P, Mikos T, Grimbizis G, Gerou S, Pavlidou V, et al. Serum inhibin-B and follicle stimulating hormone as predictors of the presence of sperm in testicular fine needle aspirate in men with azoospermia. Hormones (Athens) 2008; 7: 140-147. [DOI:10.1007/BF03401505]
23. Smit M, Dohle GR, Wildhagen MF, Weber RF. Can inhibin-B predict the outcome of microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration in patients with suspected primary obstructive azoospermia. Asian J Androl 2007; 9: 382-387. [DOI:10.1111/j.1745-7262.2007.00209.x]

Send email to the article author


Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Designed & Developed by : Yektaweb