ArticleHuman reproduction open2020
Leukocytospermia is not an informative predictor of positive semen culture in infertile men: results from a validation study of available guidelines.
Article in Human reproduction open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contemporary Diagnostic Work-Up for Male Infertility: Emphasizing Comprehensive Baseline Assessment.The world journal of men's health · 2025Review
- Idiopathic male infertility - what are we missing?Arab journal of urology · 2025Article
- Leukocytospermia and/or Bacteriospermia: Impact on Male Infertility.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Leukocytospermia does not negatively impact outcomes in in vitro fertilization cycles with intracytoplasmic sperm injection and preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy: findings from 5435 cycles.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2024Article
- Effect of leukocytes on semen quality in men from primary and secondary infertile couples: A cross-sectional study.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Re: Diagnostic and therapeutic workup of male infertility: results from a Delphi Consensus Panel.International journal of impotence research · 2023Article
- Possible Implications of Bacteriospermia on the Sperm Quality, Oxidative Characteristics, and Seminal Cytokine Network in Normozoospermic Men.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Relevance of Leukocytospermia and Semen Culture and Its True Place in Diagnosing and Treating Male Infertility.The world journal of men's health · 2022Review
- Bacteriospermia - A formidable player in male subfertility.Open life sciences · 2022Review
- Round Cells in Diagnostic Semen Analysis: A Guide for Laboratories and Clinicians.British journal of biomedical science · 2022Review
- Ultrasound aspects of symptomatic versus asymptomatic forms of male accessory gland inflammation.Andrology · 2021Article
- Asymptomatic Leukocytospermia and Assisted Reproductive Technology Outcomes: Reason for concern?International braz j urol : official journal of the Brazilian Society of UrologyReview
- Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Male Infertility: A Narrative Review.Reproductive medicine and biologyReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
study questionAre the European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines for performing semen culture accurate enough for detecting a positive semen culture in Caucasian-European infertile men? SUMMARY ANSWER: The majority (80%) of asymptomatic infertile men with a positive sperm culture may miss a proper diagnostic assessment when relying on EAU guidelines; no single parameter can assist in medical decision-making. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: The EAU guidelines suggest performing semen culture in case of increased leukocytes in semen (>10 STUDY DESIGN SIZE DURATION: A cross-sectional validation study including 523 infertile men was carried out during 2010-2018. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS SETTING
methodsInfertile men who were asymptomatic for genital infections were enrolled at a single academic center, and a semen culture was obtained in every case. A concentration of >10 MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: A positive semen culture was found in 54 men (10%). The application of EAU guidelines would have missed 43 out of 54 (80%) positive semen cultures with 120/131 (92%) useless examinations. EAU guidelines specificity, sensitivity and discrimination were 74%, 20% and 47%, respectively. When trying to improve positive semen culture prediction, we were unable to find any informative baseline parameter except for serum neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (odds ratio 1.70 (95% CI 1.04-2.77)), although without any improvement in terms of discrimination ( LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION: The study was limited by the lack of a control group of fertile men its retrospective nature. Moreover, monoclonal antibodies were not used for leukocyte assessment. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE
findingsSince it is not possible to identify infertile men at risk of semen infection, further studies are needed to tailor the execution of semen culture. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: No funding was received for this study. There are no competing interests.
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