Oligo/azoospermia in Nigeria.

Oligo/azoospermia contributes significantly to infertility in male Nigerians, being responsible for most of the problem. By definition, it would appear that the criteria for the diagnosis of this problem in Nigerians should be sperm density below 10 million/ml, total sperm ejaculate below 25 million, motility below 40%, and normal forms below 40% in agreement with more recent findings in other parts of the world. This reinforces the already generally accepted that the WHO may need to review its criteria for diagnosing oligo/azoospermia. Preventable causes of oligo/azoospermia in Nigeria include poorly treated infections such as venereal diseases, delayed treatment of torsion of the testis and of undescended testis, and repair of inguinal hernia by inexperienced native doctor [3, 4]. In addition, better approaches to the diagnosis of causes of infertility, such as a careful search for and rational treatment of varicocele, may improve the chances of infertile couples. Hormonal disorders are important factors to consider in oligo/azoospermic Nigerians, as with their counterparts elsewhere. Wide-spread availability of hormonal assays will therefore be a great help in separating the untreatable (primary testicular disease) from the treatable (hypothalamic/pituitary) diseases and planning rational treatment. With improvement of clinical care, many more patients with sickle-cell disease are reaching reproductive age. Oligo/azoospermia is quite common in patients with sickle-cell disease, and sickle-cell disease will eventually contribute more proportionately to the etiology of oligo/azoospermia in Nigerians. Extensive investigations have been conducted on the nature, etiology, and diagnosis of oligo/azoospermia [2-11, 25, 30-56].(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)