Ejaculation and Fertility After Extended Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection for Testicular Cancer

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ejaculation and fertility was studied in 55 men who had undergone suprahilar extended retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for nonseminomatous testicular cancer between 1972 and 1980. Antegrade ejaculation had returned spontaneously in 25 patients, with sperm counts of 35-190 million/ml and normal morphology and motility in 20. The other 5 men either refused to provide semen for analysis or had had vasectomies but all had fathered children postoperatively. Ten men in whom antegrade ejaculation had not returned spontaneously were treated with sympathomimetic drugs. Antegrade ejaculation was induced in 5 patients, 1 of whom fathered a child while taking the drugs. Two other patients who had only small volumes of ejaculate also responded well to sympathomimetic drugs. A therapeutically sound retroperitoneal node dissection can be performed for testicular cancer without impairing fertility permanently in a significant number of patients.