Sexual Function and Clinical Features of Patients With Klinefelter's Syndrome With the Chief Complaint of Male Infertility

Abstract

or combined male and female factor infertility. Interestingly, the prevalence of chromosomal abnormalities in this population biased towards male infertility was higher among the wives of these infertile men (5.5% versus 2.1%, respectively). Yoshida et al observed a slightly higher Prevalence (6.2%) of chromosomal abnormalities in a much larger patient population. However, the sperm chromosomal characteristics may not always be the same as those found in somatic Cells. Storeng et al observed a doubling of sex chromosome aneuploidy in sperm cells obtained from infertile men compared to fertile controls but the prevalence was only 1.5%. Clearly, this is not the end of the story, since chromosomal studies detect only gross changes in the genetic material. Genetic studies are required to detect more subtle but still significant genetic abnormalities that may be present in infertile men and passed on to offspring via intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Jonathan P. Jarow, M.D.