Experience of using shear wave elastography in evaluation of testicular stiffness in cases of male infertility.

The purpose of this study was to determine quantitative testicular tissue stiffness values in normal and infertile men using shear wave elastography (SWE), and to evaluate the relationship between infertility and testicular stiffness value.

In total, 100 testes of 50 infertile patients with abnormal semen parameters were classified as group A, and 100 testes of 50 control subjects were classified as group B. These two groups were compared in terms of age, testicular volume, and SWE values. The group B testes were randomly chosen from patients who had applied for ultrasonography for any reason, and who had no testis disease and no history of infertility.

The mean age of the patients was 27.83 years, and no significant difference in age was found between the groups (P = 0.133). No significant difference in testicular volume was found between the groups (P = 0.672). The SWE values were significantly higher in group A than in group B (P = 0.000 for both m/s and kPa values). SWE values had a negative correlation with mean testicular volume in group A (for m/s values: P = 0.043; for kPa values: P = 0.024).

SWE can be a useful technique for assessing testicular stiffness in infertile patients to predict parenchymal damage in testicular tissue that leads to an abnormality in sperm quantity. In addition, decreased testicular volume, together with increased SWE values, can reflect the degree of parenchymal damage.

Journal of ultrasound. 2020 Jan 30 [Epub ahead of print]

Hasan Erdoğan, Mehmet Sedat Durmaz, Bora Özbakır, Hakan Cebeci, Deniz Özkan, İbrahim Erdem Gökmen

Department of Radiology, Aksaray University Training and Research Hospital, 68200, Aksaray, Turkey. ., Department of Radiology, University of Health Sciences Konya Training and Research Hospital, 42130, Konya, Turkey., Department of Radiology, Isparta City Hospital, 32200, Isparta, Turkey., Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, 42130, Konya, Turkey., Department of Radiology, Aksaray University Training and Research Hospital, 68200, Aksaray, Turkey., Department of Radiology, Isparta Private Hospital, 32200, Isparta, Turkey.