Abstract:

Male infertility is a complex clinical syndrome. Any disease that interferes with male reproductive function may lead to male infertility, which complicates the etiological diagnosis of male infertility in clinical practice. There are similar ultrastructures between the cilia of respiratory system epithelium and the flagellum of male sperm. The dysfunction of cilia and flagellum will affect the clearance function of respiratory tract mucosa and sperm movement. In addition, some of genetic defects can also lead to abnormal function of respiratory system and male reproductive system. Three kinds of respiratory diseases affecting male fertility were primary ciliary dyskinesia, cystic fibrosis and Young′s syndrome. This review introduceds the main clinical characteristics of these diseases and analyzed the differences between the clinical manifestations of respiratory system and reproductive system, which will strengthen the understanding of these diseases. It is suggested that clinicians should routinely inquire about the history of respiratory system for patients with severe asthenospermia, and about the reproductive problem for those patients with recurrent respiratory tract infection.

Key words: Infertility,male, Ciliary motility disorders, Sinusitis, Bronchiectasis, Kartagener syndrome, Cystic fibrosis, Young′s syndrome;