Pearls & Perspectives: Innovation in male fertility care with Larry Lipshultz, MD, at AUA 2025

Welcome back to Pearls & Perspectives, with Amy Pearlman, MD!

In this episode of Pearls & Perspectives from Urology Times, host Amy Pearlman, MD, sits down with the legendary Larry Lipshultz, MD, professor of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine and a pioneering figure in the field of andrology.

Recorded at the American Urological Association's (AUA) 2025 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, NV, this conversation explores the questions that continue to drive one of urology’s most prolific clinician-researchers—and the answers his team is working to uncover.

Lipshultz discusses his approach to identifying research opportunities, which are often sparked by unresolved clinical challenges he encounters in daily practice. With a fellowship program and a focus on intellectual curiosity, his team aims to consistently produce meaningful research—evidenced this year by 10 accepted abstracts at the AUA.

The latter part of the discussion centers around several of the team's current areas of investigation, including new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for men with azoospermia and cryptospermia. Lipshultz describes cutting-edge work using high-resolution ultrasound to localize sperm-producing tubules and a novel technique involving fluorescent tagging and flow cytometry to identify rare sperm cells missed by standard analysis. This innovation has the potential to dramatically shift the landscape for men previously told they could not father children.

The episode also highlights Lipshultz’s groundbreaking work in managing testosterone therapy in men pursuing fertility. Rather than stopping testosterone altogether, his team has demonstrated that it’s possible to maintain exogenous testosterone while using LH (HCG) and FSH to preserve or stimulate sperm production—offering patients a path to fatherhood without compromising their quality of life.

Pearlman and Lipshultz also reflect on how practices have evolved, the importance of pre-treatment semen analyses, and the need for more nuanced, personalized care in reproductive urology.