|
?:abstract
|
-
Objective: While the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a rapid expansion of telehealth services, it remains unknown how video visits, a form of telehealth, can be used to treat male infertility We sought to evaluate what infertility diagnoses were see and how they were managed through telehealth Herein we summarize a single institution’s experience with video visits for male infertility prior to COVID-19 Design: Retrospective case series of patients with male infertility managed via video visits Materials and Methods: We identified video visits completed at our institution between August 21, 2017 and March 17, 2020 for male infertility All men had a previous in-person examination We collected patient demographic and referral information, grouped primary diagnoses, categorize what management steps were taken, and determined whether in-person examinations were needed within 90 days Results: 70 video visits were completed by 56 men The median age was 36 years (interquartile range 32 - 40), 78 5% were white, and most patients were referred by their primary care provider or their partner’s reproductive endocrinologist (47% and 33%, respectively) Most men were diagnosed with endocrinologic (29%) or anatomic (21%) contributors to infertility See Table1A for full diagnostic categories 73% of video visits involved reviewing results such as semen analysis and hormonal testing 30% of visits involved counseling for assistive reproductive technologies (ART) and, in 25% of visits, hormonally active medications were prescribed See Table1B for all management categories There were only two in-person visits within 90 days after a video visit, both of which were planned post-operative visits [Formula presented] Conclusions: Video visits can be used with established patients to manage a broad spectrum of diagnoses that contribute to male infertility In the short-term, these visits are serve as substitutes for clinic visits without resulting in additional in-person encounters
|
![[This page as RDF]](https://research.tib.eu/covid-19/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}