Secondary azoospermia after sleeve gastrectomy: a case report

Gricelda Gomez; Alexandra Berger; Martin Kathrins

doi:10.1016/j.xfre.2021.04.009

Secondary azoospermia after sleeve gastrectomy: a case report

F S Rep. 2021 May 24;2(2):245-248. doi: 10.1016/j.xfre.2021.04.009. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Authors

Gricelda Gomez¹, Alexandra Berger¹, Martin Kathrins¹

Affiliation

¹ Division of Urology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Abstract

Objective: To report the first case of secondary azoospermia after sleeve gastrectomy.

Design: Case report.

Setting: Academic male infertility clinic.

Patients: A 33-year-old man with secondary azoospermia and primary testicular failure with testosterone deficiency after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.

Interventions: Hormonal therapy with anastrozole for 10 months and diagnostic testicular biopsy.

Main outcome measures: Semen analyses and testicular histopathology.

Results: Non-obstructive azoospermia persisted at 20 months after surgery despite hormonal therapy with anastrozole. Testicular histopathology revealed the presence of Sertoli cells only.

Conclusions: Although further research is need to determine the relationship between sleeve gastrectomy and secondary infertility, men should be informed of the potentially deleterious effects of this surgery on semen parameters.

Keywords: Azoospermia; bariatric surgery; sleeve gastrectomy; testosterone deficiency.