Trophic effects on testes in paraplegics

Abstract

Testicular biopsies and hormone profiles were obtained from 23 paraplegic patients who had sustained a complete spinal cord section. The hormone profiles were normal, but patients with a spinal lesion including the TlO-L2 metameres showed a particular pattern of germinal cell abnormalities. The atrophy is multifactorial, but may well include destruction of the sympathetic innervation of the testis by the lesion. © 1993 International Medical Society of Paraplegia.