MFI Question--Urology?

KM721

Hey ladies, 

I am in full on research mode between cycles and thinking about getting second opinions. I am curious about those of you who have DH dealing with MFI issues. I have heard of some MFI patients being referred to urologists. Can anyone shed light on what a urologist evaluates outside of the SA? I know @carrieharry79, you said your DH saw a urologist to rule out other issues. What are the "other issues" that are being ruled out? I'm trying to assess if it would be a good idea to send DH to a urologist. He has severely low morphology and no other known issues (except we have had three failed cycles).  

Thanks for any insight! 

OceanHutt

My DH is seeing a urologist due to his diagnosis of kleinfelters and he has SA's and actually is on clomid to see if we can get more sperm to freeze good luck!

kristyn831

DH went to rule out any varicose veins and had some labs drawn.

Smootiepie

DH's Uro did a physical exam (including the prostate...fun), which is when he found the varicocele.  He also did a blood test to see where his T levels were at (which were low).

tptbabe

DHs urologist did a physical examination, ultrasound, and hormone panels in addition to regular bloodwork. Poor SAs can be a symptom of something else going on, so getting a full work-up is generally a good idea. Sometimes it's treatable (usually not, but sometimes! And they're working on that!) to the point of getting the sperm up to snuff, but it doesn't hurt to get checked out.

In our case, DH was found to have low T and hemochromatosis, in addition to being partly unexplained MFI. They were able to treat the low T with Clomid, and that brought his numbers up quite significantly, but post-wash counts were still too low for IUI due to other factors.

aliciafiggy

I don't think there is much they can do to fix anything but it's a good idea to rule out something serious.

carrieharry79

I don't know everything they were looking for, but they did do a full exam. We were worried about varicocele, but it turned out not to be an issue. They wouldn't even continue our testing at MGH until DH saw the urologist.

fayth4one

DH saw a urologist early on in our journey. They did a physical exam and found a cyst which they were afraid was an actual blockage. DH had to the an ultrasound abs cyst wasnt blocking anything and posed no risk. They also did labs and found a slightly decreased T level. Urology is actually who moved us onto our RE. DH is on clomid now in hopes of increasing numbers. I've seen great success on this board. We go again in February so we will see. Best of luck! !!

Pcmay20

We were referred to a Urologist by our RE after DH first SA came back at a count of 10,000. They couldn't determine morphology because of the low count. The Uro does hormone testing, genetic testing, a full exam to check for obstructions or varicoceles. DH was on clomid for 6 months with unfortunately no improvement and then switched to hcg and hmg injections. We were also given a vitamin regimen to improve sperm quality and motility. Good luck!

KM721

Ladies--I really appreciate these responses. It makes me wonder why we weren't advised to take this step sooner. 

tptbabe

KM721 said:

Ladies--I really appreciate these responses. It makes me wonder why we weren't advised to take this step sooner. 

I don't know about the rest of the women here, but our first RE really brushed us off with us even asking for a referral. She said it wasn't necessary, and that we'd have to do IVF anyways. Yes, she was right in the end that we'd still need IVF, but we're the type of people that will try and solve the underlying issue, rather than treat the symptoms. Without the referral, we wouldn't have caught DHs health issues! We're much happier at our current RE, who works with us and wants us to do everything we can, rather than just throw treatments at us.

KM721

Thanks, @tptbabe. I appreciate the advice. DH actually has a PPO plan, so we just scheduled with the Urologist who came highly recommended off of this board. Hopefully we will gain information and rule out some things at the very least. It is frustrating that there is not more collaboration between different approaches with some REs. 

tptbabe

Great news! Even if they end up not finding anything, you'll feel better knowing that you did everything you could