The infertile couple

To the Editor: The title of the article by Jones and Toner, “The Infertile Couple” (Dec. 2 issue),¹ is misleading: the paper focuses almost exclusively on the diagnosis and treatment of female subfertility. The authors imply that nothing can be done to treat male subfertility. They contend that “spermatogenesis cannot readily be altered for therapeutic benefit.” Evidence in urologic and andrologic literature does not support this assertion. Male subfertility is a contributing, if not primary, factor in 50 percent of infertile couples². Nearly half of men evaluated for subfertility will present with potentially reversible conditions,³ which include varicocele, excurrent.