Oligospermia in a Patient with Psoriasis and on the Long Term Treatment of Etretinate

Abstract

A 27-year-old man with psoriasis vulgaris had been under oral etretinate treatment for 5 years. The total dose of etretinate ingested was 29,140 mg. The semen analysis showed severe oligospermia; sperm count was below 5×10⁴ml and sperm motility was 0%. The biopsy specimen of the testes showed a remarkable decrease of spermatogonia and spermatocytes, thickening of the basement membrane, increase in the number of Leydig cells and absence of mature spermatid. Hormonal studies were within normai limits. Inhibitish of the spermatogenesis was still evident even 8 months after cessation of the administration. Oligospermia has apparently never been reported in a psoriatic patient treated with etretinate although the reversible inhibition of spermatogenesis was noted in guinea pigs treated systemically with high doses of etretinate. Our patient also had a left varicocele but a decrease in spermatogonia was more remarkable on the right side.