Men's Health

In February 2025, the FDA recommended a removal of the black box warning related to an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes for all testosterone products. This recommendation has important implications for urologists and the patients they treat.

The average life expectancy was 80.3 years among men with a total motile sperm count over 120 million, compared with 77.6 years among men with a total motile sperm count ranging from >0 to 5 million.

The FDA is requiring a warning about increased blood pressure and is recommending that the black box warning related to the increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events be removed.

“While I would hesitate to say that reversal is truly better in terms of efficacy, I think this data suggests that it's at least as good,” says Scott D. Lundy, MD, PhD, HCLD.

"I want to add that the safety profile was impeccable for this. No one experienced a [device-related] adverse event," says Matthew J. Mutter, MD.

“While sperm cryopreservation is very safe, there might be hidden costs that patients aren't aware of, both [in] the upfront costs of preserving the sperm and then the annual cost of maintaining it at a facility,” says Bradley Roth, MS4.

A recap of the FDA submissions and regulatory decisions in urology from January 2025.

"The idea here is to determine, from an epidemiologic perspective, whether freezing sperm for many men before their vasectomy is cost-effective compared to whether we should simply avoid this routine practice and allow men to proceed with their vasectomy and then restore their fertility in the future," says Scott D. Lundy, MD, PhD, HCLD.

"The biggest thing that I took away from using the device is that it allowed me to do the procedure by myself, without an assistant," says Matthew J. Mutter, MD.

The test can provide results in 48 minutes for diagnostic insights for conditions such as hypogonadism, impotence, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and other androgenital syndromes.

“We really need to do a better job of destigmatizing these conversations so guys are comfortable asking their providers [about sensitive health issues],” says Justin Dubin, MD.

New research better defines the link between cardiovascular disease risk and prevalence of ED per serum ceramide levels.

Data from a new SMSNA 2024 abstract show an association between significantly high BMI and risk of azoospermia and oligospermia.

“We saw in the survey that men are concerned with how the health decisions they make now will affect them in the future,” says Petar Bajic, MD.

“One of our goals here with our program is to hopefully expand the APPs in the sexual medicine field,” says Kristy L. Mardis, NP.

"The updated guideline includes numerous new, important recommendations that will enhance the ability of urologists to provide optimal, state-of-the-art care for infertile males,” says Robert E. Brannigan, MD.

“The other thing that I think would be interesting is there's the thought of vasectomy regret where because of the permanent nature, what proportion of patients have regret surrounding their decision?” says Catherine S. Nam, MD.

“Within our department at University of Michigan, there has been increased numbers of vasectomy procedure days to be able to meet the demand so that there's not a very long prolonged delay for our patients,” says Catherine S. Nam, MD.

"We propose a new classification system, which we believe will provide a more consistent and standardized approach to classification and treatment of PD," says Landon Trost, MD.

“We get exposure and get an opportunity to work with experts in the field before we even start fellowship, so that we can develop a baseline of expertise in areas of Peyronie's disease, erectile dysfunction, infertility, and managing sexual medicine and fertility in men across the board,” says Jacob Rust, MD.

“It's been exciting to be on the forefront of new technology and new implants to help men regain their sexual function and empower them,” says Dr. Helen L. Bernie, DO, MPH.

“This is a great opportunity for public outreach and re-education on the common misconceptions surrounding vasectomy,” says Catherine S. Nam, MD.

“One thing is we’re trying to create an atmosphere in the center whereby men feel at ease, they're comfortable talking to their provider who is specialized in this field,” says Ramy Abou Ghayda, MD, MPH, MBA.

A decision on the NDS for testosterone undecanoate is expected in Q2 of 2025.