CLINICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INFERTILE MEN WITH A HISTORY OF CRYPTORCHIDISM

Out of 85 fertile and 1014 infertile men, two (2.4%) and 95 (9.4%) res pectively had a history of cryptorchidism, Thus cryptorchidism appears to be a risk factor for fertility since this difference was significa nt, Further comparisons showed that the volume of a former cryptorchid testis was smaller than the contralateral normally descended one and that sperm output/concentration was more impaired in bilateral than in unilateral cryptorchidism. A retractile testis, defined as a testis r eported by the patient to be spontaneously and regularly, i.e. at leas t once a week, ascending up into a supra-scrotal position, was more fr equent in infertile men with a history of cryptorchidism than in ferti le men, Retractility was more frequent on the cryptorchid side, and wa s found more frequently after hormonal than after surgical treatment, Independently of all epidemiological and clinical parameters studied, retractility was associated with a lower sperm output, Among the infer tile men with a history of cryptorchidism, 45% had an abnormally high scrotal temperature. This abnormal temperature represented a pejorativ e risk factor for fertility in this group, since it was associated wit h a more severely impaired spermatogenesis and a higher incidence of p rimary infertility than in infertile men with a history of cryptorchid ism but normal scrotal temperatures.