Successful Gonadotropin Therapy of Infertility in a Hypopituitary Man

Abstract

Gonadotropin therapy has produced sperm in the ejaculum of several azoospermic patients with hypogonadotropic eunuchoidism,^1-6pituitary gonadotropic insufficiency,⁷and hypopituitarism following pituitary surgery.^8-10In these studies the dosages of gonadotropin (s) have varied and one can not compare the potency of the preparations in regard to follicle-stimulating and interstitial cell-stimulating activities. A treatment program to achieve fertility in the hypopituitary man has not been established. <h3>Patient Summary</h3> A 29-year-old white man with hypopituitarism was admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, on April 19, 1966, for treatment of infertility. His history disclosed these significant features: normal sexual development at puberty; onset of severe headaches and progressive visual loss in 1957; subtotal removal of a chromophobe adenoma of the pituitary gland at age 21 years on April 1, 1958, followed by irradiation (4,000 roentgens) of the pituitary area; use of adrenocortical therapy during surgery, and maintenance of his