Arteriosclerotic Vascular Disease and Testicular Fibrosis

Abstract

The autopsy protocols and sections of the testes were examined in a group of 199 men over the age of 35 years who were free of known causes of either vascular disease or testicular fibrosis. In 44 (22 per cent) of the cases, testicular sections showed marked fibrosis of the peritubular membranes or complete hyalinization. Testes of the remaining men showed minimal or no signs of testicular fibrosis. Of these 155 patients with normal or minimally fibrotic testes, 47 (30.7 per cent) had complications of arteriosclerotic vascular disease (i.e., myocardial or cerebral infarcts, arteriosclerotic aneurysms, etc.) and in 36 cases (23.5 per cent) those complications were considered to be the cause of death. Of the 44 cases with advanced testicular fibrosis, four (9.1 per cent) had complications of arteriosclerotic vascular disease and only one patient (2.2 per cent) died of the disease. An interpretation of these findings is presented.