Andrology


Andrology is a name for the medical specialty that deals with male health, particularly relating to the problems of the male reproductive system and urological problems that are unique to men. It is the parallel to gynecology, which deals with medical issues which are specific to female health, especially reproductive and urologic health.

Process

Andrology covers anomalies in the connective tissues pertaining to the genitalia, as well as changes in the volume of cells, such as in genital hypertrophy or macrogenitosomia.
From reproductive and urologic viewpoints, male-specific medical and surgical procedures include vasectomy, vasovasostomy, orchidopexy, circumcision, sperm/semen cryopreservation, surgical sperm retrieval, semen analysis, sperm preparation for assisted reproductive technology as well as intervention to deal with male genitourinary disorders such as the following:

History

Unlike gynaecology, which has a plethora of medical board certification programs worldwide, andrology has none. Andrology has only been studied as a distinct specialty since the late 1960s: the first specialist journal on the subject was the German periodical Andrologie, published from 1969 onwards. The next specialty journal covering both the basic and clinical andrology was the International Journal of Andrology, established in 1978, which became the official journal of the European Academy of Andrology in 1992. In 1980 the American Society of Andrology launched the Journal of Andrology. In 2012, these two society journals merged into one premier journal in the field, named Andrology, with the first issue published in January 2013.