Objective: To determine if testicular 31P magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy can be of additional clinical value.
Design: A controlled study in three selected subjects groups.
Setting: All participants were referred to the outpatient clinic of our Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Participants: Normal healthy volunteers (n = 13), oligozoospermic (n = 14), and azoospermic patients (n = 17; 6 with epididymal obstruction and 11 with severe germ cell depletion) were selected on the basis of semen analysis, hormone determinations, and, if necessary, on operative exploration.
Interventions: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy was performed on a Philips Gyroscan S15 (Philips Medical Systems, Best, the Netherlands).
Main outcome measure(s): The routine clinical analyses were compared with the outcome of testicular MR spectroscopy to test the hypothesis that MR spectroscopy can be of additional value in the diagnosis of idiopathic oligozoospermic or azoospermic patients.
Results: The MR spectra of normal volunteers were significantly different from oligozoospermic patients (P less than 0.001), from azoospermic patients with germ cell depletion (P less than 0.001), and from azoospermic patients with an obstruction (P less than 0.05). Between the two azoospermic groups also a significant difference was found (P less than 0.001).
Conclusions: These results show that MR spectroscopy is a reliable technique to monitor the testicular function.