Viagra for temporary erectile dysfunction during treatments with assisted reproductive technologies

During treatments with assisted reproductive technologies (ART), some men m ay have difficulties in producing spermatozoa on demand at the time of inse mination, either for intrauterine insemination (IUI) or for in-vitro fertil ization (IVF), This situation imposes tremendous stress ion the couple and may cause cancellation of the treatment. Here we describe, for the first ti me, the use of sildenafil citrate (Viagra(TM)) for temporary erectile dysfu nction in couples undergoing ART, The first case was a man who could not pr oduce spermatozoa for the first IVF treatment after an exhausting trial for 12 h, despite the fact that he never had problems in providing sperm sampl es during previous IUI cycles. Using Viagra enabled him to provide spermato zoa, but the delay in oocyte insemination resulted in no embryonic developm ent. This prompted us to be more alert to this option and to suggest the us e of Viagra to men who had a history of erectile dysfunction during previou s ART cycles, In these cases, the use of Viagra was planned in advance and it successfully solved any unpredictable erectile dysfunction on the day of insemination, Such cases emphasize the need to think in advance of this po tential use of Viagra during ART.