MALE INFERTILITY


• Infertility is the inability to conceive after at least one year of unprotected intercourse. However, depending upon the age of the couple, an infertility evaluation may be recommended even earlier.
• Male infertility is involved in approximately 40% of the 2.6 million infertile married couples in the U. S. One-half of these men experience irreversible infertility and cannot father children.
• Hormone disorders, illness, reproductive anatomy trauma and obstruction, and sexual dysfunction can temporarily or permanently affect sperm and prevent conception.
• Many infertility cases are caused by a treatable medical condition, but some disorders become more difficult to treat the longer they persist without treatment.


Specialists
Karen E. Boyle, M.D.
Jonathan P. Jarow, M.D.

Our specialists offer compassionate care for the infertile couple.

Our identification and treatment of male factor infertility over the past 20 years has helped hundreds of couples reach their goal of having a family. Reproductive medicine has changed dramatically in the past few years, and the latest microsurgical techniques are now offered at Johns Hopkins for reconstruction of the vas deferens for those patients seeking vasectomy reversal (vasovasostomy, epididymovasostomy). With the opening of our spacious facility at Green Spring Station, a 15-minute drive from Baltimore, this procedure is now offered at competitive fees. The average patency rates achieved with vasovasostomy are approximately 90% using modern microsurgical techniques.

Microsurgical repair of scrotal varicocele is offered for patients with this condition, the most common cause of male infertility. Jonathan P. Jarow, M.D., the past president of the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction, is a world-renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of ejaculatory duct obstruction, the rarest cause of male infertility, responsible for 5% of infertility in azoospermic men.

Transrectal sonography has facilitated identification of patients with this unusual ailment, and Dr. Jarow has developed minimally invasive techniques to treat the obstruction with a special balloon dilation procedure. Johns Hopkins is the only center in the world performing this delicate work.

Karen E. Boyle, M.D., the Director of Reproductive Medicine & Surgery at the Brady Urological Institute at Green Spring Station, works closely with the leading reproductive endocrinologists who treat the female side of infertility. She has been influential in establishing a comprehensive treatment center and surgicenter for the infertile couple at Johns Hopkins.

  

Dr. Boyle is a reviewer and contributor for the journals Urology and Fertility and Sterility. Her research interests involve the investigation of the genetic etiologies of male factor infertility, developing new microsurgical techniques, and conducting outcomes research in vasectomy reversal surgery.