Author/Authors :
Khademi، Afsaneh نويسنده , , Safdarian، Leili نويسنده , , Alleyassin، Ashraf نويسنده , , Agha-Hosseini، Marzieh نويسنده Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , , Akbari Hamed، Ehsan نويسنده Mahdieh Department of Radiation Oncology, Hamadan, Iran , , Saeidi Saeidabadi، Hojatollah نويسنده , , Pooyan، Omid نويسنده Infertility ward, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar St, Tehran, 14114, Iran. ,
Abstract :
Background: The etiologic cause in near one third of male factor infertility is unknown. The
percentage of men with idiopathic infertility who have been successfully treated by the empirical
therapeutic modalities is not high.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assay the effect of L-carnitine on sperm parameters in
patients who needs intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as a method for infertility treatment.
Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 65 men (mean age± SD: 34.4 ± 6.07)
presenting with primary infertility due to idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. L-carnitine was
prescribed 1gram orally every 8 hours for 3 months. Before and after the ending of the L-carnitine
treatment, semen analysis was performed.
Results: The proportion of patients who had motile and grade C sperms rose significantly after
treatment. Percentile of abnormal shaped sperms decreased significantly after treatment. In
approximately 22%, complete asthenozoospermia changed to relative asthenozoospermia.
Conclusion: Appearing motile sperms will potentially improve the technique of ICSI. The
magnitude of the elevation in normal morphology is not clinically obvious, but it seems that it can
be important in obtaining normal-shaped sperms for intracytoplasmic injection.
Designing a study on selected patients with complete asthenozoospermia who have not other
abnormalities in semen parameters can reveal the real effect of carnitine therapy in this category.
