USE OF ELECTROEJACULATION LIN THE TREATMENT OF EJACULATORY FAILURE SECONDARY TO DIABETES-MELLITUS

Objectives. To describe the experience of two male fertility programs using electroejaculation (EEJ) in the management of men with ejaculato ry failure secondary to diabetes mellitus. Methods. Twenty-nine EEJ pr ocedures were performed in 7 diabetic men with ejaculatory failure. Re sults were reviewed with attention paid to sperm characteristics in bo th antegrade and retrograde specimens as well as pregnancy rates. Resu lts. Retrograde semen specimens retrieved from the bladder following E EJ contained a mean of 3444.5 million sperm (range 269.2 to 4996 milli on). Antegrade specimens contained a mean of 698.8 million sperm (rang e 226.8 to 1961 million). Mean sperm motility was 4% for retrograde sp ecimens (range 0% to 11%) and 7% for antegrade specimens (1% to 15%). In all but 1 case, semen specimens were used for intrauterine insemina tion. The total number of motile sperm contained in the processed, ins eminated specimens ranged from 1 to 87.2 million. In 1 case, the sperm obtained through EEJ was used in an in vitro fertilization procedure. Conclusions. EEJ can be successfully used to obtain sperm from men wi th ejaculatory failure due to diabetes mellitus. The procedure require s general anesthesia, and pregnancy rates after intrauterine inseminat ion with the processed sperm are low. Advanced reproductive technologi es may offer a feasible alternative, providing higher success rates wi th fewer procedures. Copyright 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc.