News April
Male contraceptive 'reversible'
Male hormonal contraception can be reversed within a few months,
a study has found. Researchers looked at data on more than 1,500
men around the world who had taken part in tests of some form of
hormonal contraception.
On average, men took three to four months to recover full fertility,
according to a paper in the Lancet. Experts say the research offers
men reassurance that their fertility can be restored.
Existing methods of contraception for men - condoms and vasectomy
- may be unacceptable to some couples because they are not sufficiently
reliable or not easily reversible. Male hormonal contraception methods
work in a similar way to those used by women. While female treatments
suppress ovulation, sperm production can be prevented by giving
the male hormones androgen and progestagen.
These can either lead to no sperm being produced in semen, or very
low sperm counts too low to lead to conception - fewer than three
million sperm per millilitre compared to a fertile level of 20 million.
Two treatments - one injection and one implant - are currently being
tested in advanced clinical trials.
Source
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4948302.stm
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