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Re Three new methods for male contraception Dear Sir, The article entitled Three new methods for male contraception by Dr Ahmed Shafik in Volume 1, Number 4, pages 161-7, 1999 presents only Dr Shafik's own work and opinions, and ignores the extensive, current literature on the subject. For example, when dealing with his studies on testicular suspension, Dr Shafek fails to acknowledge the work of others[1] and ignores studies with the same polyester material which failed to confirm his results[2]. The unconvincing claim that the electrostatic properties of this material induced the antispermatogenic effects needs replication by an independent investigator. In stating androgen, alone or combined with progesterone, did not prove to be an efficient method of contraception, only 20-year-old studies are cited, none of which examined contraceptive efficacy. Dr Shafik ignores recently published studies clearly demonstrating the high efficacy of hormonal male contraception, especially for Asian men in Asian centres[3-5], which have opened the way for a wide variety of new hormonal methods for men now being actively developed[6,7]. When promoting prolactin as a possible male contraceptive drug, Dr Shafik does not make clear that there is no clinical or animal experimental evidence to support that elevated prolactin alone, without gonadotropin deficiency, exerts any effect on human spermatogenesis. We believe that authors should present a balanced and critical view of their field and, in this respect, trust that the attached references will help the reader to acquire a more realistic assessment of new methods for male contraception. DJ
Handelsman FCW
Wu References [1]Mieusset
R, Bujan L. The potential of mild testicular heating as a safe, effective
and reversible contraceptive method for men. Int J Androl 1994; 17: 186-91.
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