Mid-frequency transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation combined with tamoxifen for the treatment of oligoasthenozoospermia
LI Tao
XIE Sheng
TAN Yan
XIE Zi-ping
WANG Wan-rong
LI Heng
Abstract：Objective:To explore the feasibility,safety and clinical effect of mid-frequency transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) combined with oral tamoxifen (TAM) in the treatment of oligoasthenozoospermia.Methods:We randomly and equally assigned 120 patients with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia to receive oral TAM,mid-frequency TEAS,or TAM + TEAS,all for 8 weeks.Before and after treatment,we recorded the semen volume,total sperm count,sperm concentration,sperm motility,percentage of progressively motile sperm (PMS),and the levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH),luteotrophic hormone (LH) and testosterone (T) in the peripheral serum and compared these parameters among the three groups of patients.Results:Compared with the baseline,none of the patients showed significant improvement in the semen volume (P ＞ 0.05) but all exhibited remarkably elevated levels of serum FSH,LH and T after treatment (P ＜ 0.05);TAM significantly improved the total sperm count ([25.16 ± 2.05] vs [42.65 ± 5.78] ×106,P ＜0.05) and sperm concentration ([12.15 ± 2.51] vs [24.31 ± 2.59] ×106/ml,P ＜ 0.05),but not total sperm motility ([21.78 ± 8.81] vs [22.61 ± 5.75] ％,P ＞0.05) orPMS([15.87 ± 7.81] vs [16.76 ± 5.86] ％,P ＞ 0.05);TEAS markedly increased total sperm motility ([24.81 ± 8.27] vs [32.43 ± 4.97] ％,P ＜ 0.05) and PMS ([19.71 ± 9.15] vs [27.17 5.09]％,P ＜0.05),but not the total sperm count ([23.23 ± 3.14] vs [25.87 ± 4.96] × 106,P ＞ 0.05) or sperm concentration ([11.27 ± 2.24] vs [14.12 ± 2.47] × 106/ml,P ＞ 0.05);TAM ± TEAS,however,improved not only the total sperm count ([26.17 ± 5.05] vs [51.14 ± 3.69] × 106,P ＜ 0.05) and sperm concentration ([12.78 ± ± 2.41] vs [27.28 ± 1.98] × 106/ml,P ＜ 0.05),but also total sperm motility ([23.89 ± 9.05] vs [37.12 ± 5.33] ％,P ＜ 0.05) and PMS ([17.14 ± 8.04] vs [31.09 ± 7.12]％,P ＜0.05).The total effectiveness rate was significantly higher in the TAM + TEAS group than in the TAM and TEAS groups (97.5 ％ vs 72.5％ and 75.0％,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion:Mid-frequency TEAS combined with tamoxifen can significantly improve semen quality and increase sex hormone levels in patients with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia.
Keywords：mid-frequency transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulationtamoxifenoligoasthenozoospermiamale infertility
Publication Date：2017-10-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 928-932 )