Severe Hyperprolactinemia Directly Depresses the Gonadal Activity Causing Infertility

Background:To quantify the degree of correlation between serum hormones (prolactin, FSH and testosterone) and sperm count in primary hypogonadism due to hyperprolactinemia in oligo/azoospermic infertile patients. Methods:Serum prolactin, FSH and testosterone levels of 100 male infertile oligospermic/ azoospermic patients were assayed by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and their data was analyzed for significant correlation with the same parameters of 20 control cases. Results:25 out of 100 infertile patients had hyperprolactinemia out of which 13 had hypogonadism. Out of the 13 hyperprolactinemic hypogonadism cases, 9 had azoospermia. The values of serum prolactin and FSH were significantly raised (p<0.001). The sperm count in the group was strongly correlated to serum FSH (r = 0.67 p<0.05). Conclusion:Severe degree of hyperprolactinemia can cause infertility by inducing azoospermia directly. The levels of serum FSH rise in an attempt to reverse these changes.