Article on HCG

[Guest guest]

Here is an interesting article about the use of HCG for fertility. The thing

that caught my eye was that the participants were slightly hypogonadotrophic and

the volume of the testes was used as a one of the guides as to how successful it

was. On an average the volume of the testicles increased by a factor of 2. ~

half of the men impregnated their partners. The other thing that caught my eye

was that most reach elevated or superphysiological levels of estradiol. However

this was doing 5000 ius two times a week which is a very large dose

Arkansas

Gonadotropin therapy in men with isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism: the

response to human chorionic gonadotropin is predicted by initial testicular size

AS Burris, HW Rodbard, SJ Winters and RJ Sherins

Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human

Development, Bethesda, land 20892. This study was designed to determine

whether exogenous hCG alone can complete spermiogenesis in men with isolated

hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH). hCG was administered to 22 men with IHH

until maximal testicular growth was achieved. Their mean testicular volume

increased from 5.5 +/- 1.1 (+/- SE) mL (pretreatment) to 10.8 +/- 1.6 mL

(maximum) during treatment (P less than 10(-6)). The maximum mean testicular

volume was highly positively correlated with initial volume (r = 0.84; P less

than 10(-6)). All men attained normal serum testosterone levels, and 7 of 22 men

achieved supraphysiological serum estradiol levels. During hCG treatment, 14 of

the 22 men had sperm appear in their semen. Six of 11 men with complete

gonadotropin deficiency, defined as an initial mean testicular volume less than

4 mL, became sperm positive during hCG treatment. In

contrast, 9 of 11 men with partial gonadotropin deficiency (initial mean

testicular volume of 4 mL or more) produced sperm during treatment (P less than

0.001). Sperm concentration was highly positively correlated with both

pretreatment (r = 0.65; P less than 0.01) and final testicular volume (r = 0.73;

P less than 0.0001). Of 13 men attempting to impregnate their partners, 7 were

successful in initiating conception; a total of 8 pregnancies ensued. The sperm

concentration at the time of conception was less than 10 million/mL in all but 1

man. Our study demonstrates that hCG, in the absence of exogenous FSH, can

complete spermiogenesis in men with partial gonadotropin deficiency. The

response to hCG in men with IHH is predicted by the initial testicular volume.

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