SEMEN QUALITY OF SPINAL-CORD INJURED MEN IS BETTER WHEN OBTAINED BY VIBRATORY STIMULATION VERSUS ELECTROEJACULATION

Purpose: Most spinal cord injured men require assisted ejaculation pro cedures to obtain semen, and the majority can achieve this result by v ibratory stimulation or electroejaculation. We determined if semen obt ained by vibratory stimulation differed in quality from that obtained by electroejaculation. Materials and Methods: Between subjects and wit hin subjects designs were used. Of 77 spinal cord injured men 23 under went vibratory stimulation only, 44 electroejaculation only and 10 bot h procedures. Antegrade, retrograde and total ejaculates were analysed in each subject for total sperm count, percent motile sperm and perce nt sperm with rapid Linear motion. Results: With vibratory stimulation compared to electroejaculation the percent motile sperm and percent s perm with rapid linear motion were significantly greater, whereas tota l sperm count was similar, in the antegrade specimens and total ejacul ates. This finding was true for different groups of subjects as well a s within a group of the same subjects. Conclusions: Semen obtained by vibratory stimulation is of better quality than that obtained by elect roejaculation. In medical practices that include assisted ejaculation of spinal cord injured men, we recommend obtaining a specimen by vibra tory stimulation. If that method fails electroejaculation should be pe rformed.