Includes References and Index

Infertility in men is an important cause of barren marriage. Male infertility is on the
rise and the world wide prevalence of male infertility now stands at 7 %, an incidence
even more than diabetes mellitus. Yet sadly, we, the medical community at large, have
chosen to ignore this problem. Until a few decades ago, this area was wide open with
almost all medical practitioners handling the field. Besides urologists, gynecologists,
and embryologists who are probably the rightful inheritors of the field, specialists in
venereology, dermatology, endocrinology, and internal medicine were also practicing
male infertility with very little or formal training in the field. Universities offering
training in this branch of reproductive medicine were also few.
The advent of assisted reproductive technologies and intracytoplasmic sperm
injection (ICSI) made a paradigm change in the management of male infertility.
However, an increase in failed ICSI procedures and declining male fertility have
made physicians dwell deep into the realm of male infertility. Many hitherto
unproven therapies have fallen into disrepute. Many conditions untreatable few
decades ago have become treatable now with the introduction of ICSI and sperm
retrieval techniques. There is an urgent need for good understanding of the principles and practice of male infertility. This book hopes to fulfill this need.
The chapters in this book have been hand-picked to provide the gynecologists,
urologists, endocrinologists, and fertility specialists in-depth information about
male infertility and aim to serve as a reference point with detailed descriptions and
practical analysis by leading practitioners in the field of men’s health.
We would like to thank our teachers, our patients, the andrology fellows, our
contributing authors, and all other research staff, without whom this book would not
have been possible. We specially acknowledge the great contribution rendered by
Dr. C. Siddharth, Embryologist and Andrologist, in the initial phase of the project.
We value your feedback; this will help us improve the future editions of the
book.