Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Various prediction models have been developed aiming to estimate risk-adjusted mortality, morbidity and length of intensive care unit stay following cardiac surgeries. The European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation II (EuroSCORE II) is a prediction model which maps 18 predictors to a 30-day post-operative risk of death. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the EuroSCORE II risk-analysis predictions among patients who underwent heart surgeries.
Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted to collect required variables for all consecutive patients underwent heart surgeries in Emam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran, from March 2014 to March 2015. Once the patient was hospitalized a cardiologist or a general physician evaluated pre- peri- and post-operative state to fill out the pre-designed structural paper form. Comparing the observed and expected mortality, the sensitivity, specificity, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and finally the discrimination power of the model for our patients were calculated and reported. The model value was calculated using the online tool.
Results: A total of 1337 patients (60% males) were included, the observed mortality rate was 3.2%. Although the overall performance was acceptable, the model showed poor discriminatory power (AUC=0.667, CI 95%: 0.648-0.685) and accuracy with sensitivity=61.88% and specificity=66.23%.
Conclusion: Our single-center study, based on consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery showed that EuroSCORE II demonstrated a moderate statistical overall performance with poor discrimination and calibration measures remain as concerning issues regarding 30-day post-operative mortality prediction after adult cardiac surgery. Poor performance measures for this system show the need for reformulating this risk stratification tool aiming to improve post cardiac surgery outcome predictions in Iran.

Background: Approach to treat empyema following pulmonary infection, especially in the second stage, is disputed. Therefore, this research aimed to compare the effect of simple tube thoracostomy versus surgical debridement in complicated parapneumonic empyema management.
Methods: This prospective randomized trial was conducted in Thoracic Surgery Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital of Tabriz and Dr. Shariati Hospital of Isfahan cities, Iran from March 2003 to September 2015. 104 patients with stage II empyema, divided into two groups (52 patients in each group). Group 1 was treated with simple tube thoracostomy and group 2 with surgical debridement with thoracotomy or thoracoscopy and patients had at least 2 referral after discharge. Personal information, medical history and information of complications and recurrence were recorded in two forms. Finally, data analysis was done by SPSS software version 22 (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA) and methods of Chi-square test and independent sample t-test.
Results: The age-mean of patients under study was 48.17±11.13 years in group 1 and 46.21±13.58 years in group 2 and the most patients were middle-aged (between 40 to 50 years). The number of men in both groups was more than women. 44.23% of patients in group 1 and 38.46% of patients in group 2 had a history of smoking. Duration of hospitalization (P=0.005), a chest tube duration (P=0.004) and duration of treatment (P=0.005) in group 2 was significantly higher than group 1. The complications (P=0.172) and recurrence (P=0.324) in group 2 are non-significantly more than group 1. The complications of treatment, after a week in group 1, are non-significantly higher than group 2 (P=0.690), but complications of treatment after a month in both groups were equal (P=1).
Conclusion: Duration of hospitalization, chest tube insertion time and duration of treatment in simple chest tube drainage treatment is shorter than surgery treatment (thoracoscopy or thoracotomy) and simple chest tube drainage treatment is more effectiveness way to treat patients with complicated parapneumonic empyema in stage 2.

Background: Growth disturbance is a common phenomenon in children with congenital heart diseases (CHD). Malnutrition and nutritional disturbances have a higher prevalence among children with down syndrome, especially children with Down syndrome; on the other hand, the prevalence of CHD is higher among syndromic children, which needs surgical repair as the definitive treatment. The nutritional status plays an important role in determining the postoperative complications and recovery. The purpose of this study was to investigate the growth status of children with Down syndrome and congenital heart disease before cardiac surgery.
Methods: This study was conducted as a retrospective study by evaluating the records of all syndromic patients undergoing cardiac surgery at Children’s Medical Center of Excellence, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, from March 2011 to March 2017. Age, weight, height, weight-for-age z-score (WAZ), weight-for-height z-score (WHZ), height-for-age z-score (HAZ), mortality and hospitalization rate in an intensive care unit (ICU) were recorded in these patients. The z-scores more than -1 were considered as normal, between -1 and -2 as mild malnutrition, between -2 and -3 as moderate malnutrition and below -3 as severe malnutrition.
Results: 35 (51.5%) patients were female and 33 (48.5%) were male. The mean age, weight, and height of these children were 26.9±24.9 months, 9.1±4.95 kg, and 79.55±17.95 cm, respectively. The mean of WHZ, WAZ, and HAZ in these children was -2.18+1.65, -1.95+2.25 and -1.22+3.11, respectively. Based on the values of WAZ, WHZ, and HAZ, 85.3%, 77.9% and 75% of patients have malnutrition (mild to severe forms, z-score less than -1). The most common cardiac defect was ventricular septal defect (VSD) accompanied by pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of impaired nutritional status in these children and considering the effect of preoperative malnutrition on surgical outcomes, including mortality, assessing the nutritional status is much important. The adequate nutritional support in these patients leads to a reduction of the mortality, postoperative complications and morbidities.

Background: Cubital tunnel syndrome, a neuropathy of ulnar nerve, is the second most common entrapping syndrome in the upper limb surpassing carpal tunnel syndrome. This syndrome arises from a high pressure decompressing the nerve for a long time. Patients with cubital tunnel syndrome show numbness in the ring and small fingers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the etiology of cubital tunnel syndrome in patients who underwent surgery for treatment of the syndrome.
Methods: In this retrospective study, medical records of 100 patients who underwent surgery for treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome at Department of Neurosurgery, Poursina Hospital, Rasht, Iran from March 2008 to March 2017, were checked. The etiology of cubital tunnel syndrome including inflammatory, tumoral, vascular, orthopedic causes and anomalies in nerve site and information about age, gender, job, and weight were collected and analyzed.
Results: In this study, the mean±SD of age was 33.8±11.5 years. Females and males constituted 21% and 79% of the cases, respectively. Idiopathic and orthopedic etiologies were seen in 84% and 13% of the operated cases, respectively. Vascular, tumoral, and inflammatory causes were found in 1% of the cases. Regarding location of nerve involvement, 57% of the cases had the ulnar nerve entrapment between MCL (medial collateral ligament) and Osborne ligaments; and in 22% of the cases, the cubital tunnel was involved. Arcade of Struthers and medial epicondyle and medial intermuscular septum were involved in 8%, 8%, and 5% of the patients, respectively. Forty-five percent of the cases performed a repetitive manual task by hand and 1.9% of cases were vibrator workers. Moreover, 12.4% of cases had a history of cubitus valgus or cubitus varus. Finally, 20.9% and 18% of the cases suffered from obesity (BMI>30) and diabetes mellitus, respectively. Furthermore, one patient had a history of head injury with contractions of upper limb flexion and one patient had arthritis of medial epicondylitis.
Conclusion: The evidence from the present study indicates that the idiopathic cubital tunnel syndrome constituted the bulk of involvement on ulnar nerve in the patients. Job, obesity, and diabetes were the most important accompanying factors with cubital tunnel syndrome.

Background: Neurosurgery practice conflicts with many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic; Including the lack of beds in intensive care units, as well as the use of some methods such as drills and trans-nasal and trans-oral approaches that produce aerosols or are directly in contact with patient discharge. Due to these challenges, developing a clinical guideline to help neurosurgeons and medical staff in decision making and improving patients and medical staff safety during the COVID-19 pandemic is the purpose of this study.
Methods: First, all of the relevant clinical guidelines to neurosurgical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic were extracted from the data centers. Finally, five clinical guidelines were selected. The questions and the items were designed according to these guidelines. The answers to each of the questions were extracted from these guidelines. The complementary evidence was extracted by searching in the data centers again. Finally, the answers were edited and the edited answers were considered as the recommendations. These recommendations were sent to 4 experts in the Neurosurgery field and 2 experts in the infectious diseases field. The appraisers evaluated the recommendations according to the AGREE-REX instrument.  This instrument has 9 items and 3 domains including clinical applicability, values and preferences, and implement ability. Recommendations with above 80% agreement were considered as the final recommendations.

Background: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) is now firmly established as a global surgical quality improvement initiative that results in both clinical improvements and cost benefits to the healthcare system. ERAS guidelines are based on the highest quality evidence available and as such require updating on a regular basis. The ERAS Gynecologic/Oncology guidelines were first published in February 2016. This is the first updated Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Society guideline presenting a consensus for optimal perioperative care in gynecologic/oncology surgery.^1,2
Methods: Starting from the original ERAS Gynecologic/Oncology guidelines, the first author and senior authors identified topics for inclusion. International authors known for their expertise in gynecologic/oncology perioperative care were invited to participate in the guideline update. A database search of publications using Embase and PubMed was performed. Studies on each item within the ERAS gynecologic/oncology protocol were selected with an emphasis on meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, and large prospective cohort studies. These studies were then reviewed and graded according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system,³ whereby recommendations are given as follows: Strong recommendations: The panel is confident that the desirable effects of adherence to a recommendation outweigh the undesirable effects, weak recommendations: The desirable effects of adherence to a recommendation probably outweigh the undesirable effects, but the panel is less confident.

Today surgery is supposed as the cure for many diseases and the fear of post-operation pain burdens stress over the patients. Postoperative pain can, especially if severe, complicate the patient's condition and may lead to chronic postoperative pain. post-operation pain control is effective in the recovery process, hospitalization period and patients’ satisfaction. Insufficient post-operation pain control increases complications and care costs. Local analgesia is one of the components of multimodal postoperative. analgesic protocol to control pain. Local analgesia technique is a simple, accessible and feasible method for various surgeries. The opioid analgesics to control post-operation pain are associated with some complications such as opium addiction, nausea and vomiting, late return of bowel function and social costs. This review study aims. to review previous studies on the effect of injection of analgesic agents in the surgical incision in post-operation pain control. This is a Narrative review study. to related scientific documentaries a search was conducted in Persian and English using the keywords of local injection of the incision site, wound infiltration with analgesic agents and post-operation pain control in Google scholar, PubMed and Scopus database during the years 2000 to 2020. The obtained articles included systematic reviews, Meta-analyses and randomized clinical trials (RCT). We reviewed studies that had utilized single-dose injection of analgesic agents in surgical incisions at the end of surgery to control post-operation pain. A total of ten studies were reviewed. There were 4 studies in the field of laparoscopic gynecological and non-gynecological surgeries, three studies in the field of laparotomy and three review studies. injection of analgesic agents in the surgical incision to control post-operation pain is easily available and does not necessitate any special skill. On the other hand, it is a safe method without further complications and does not increase the duration of surgery. Regardless of the differences in various studies and the kind of analgesic agents, a general reduction in pain severity and consumption of opioid and non-opioid analgesic agents were observed using the injection of analgesic agents in surgical site incision.

Background: Time management is effective in controlling stress especially for medical residents. Time management in the surgical field and residential education is very important as they are directly involved in treating patients. Proper time management will help decrease work-related stress and increase efficacy, although there is no time management in medical courses. There are few studies in Iran in this field. So, we designed this study to assess the effects of time management on improvement of educational and therapeutic services in surgical residents of Imam Hospital.
Methods: This before–after study was done in Imam hospital between February-March 2015. In this before-after study, 18 surgical residents of Imam Hospital (residents of 1-4 years), were enrolled. Their activities were evaluated in 11 scopes. To evaluate the effects of this self-evaluation, 5 scopes were assessed by the staff. The time during two weeks spent on each item was claimed as a percentage of 336 hours in two weeks. The self-assessment results and their effects on their scores were considered. Data regarding age, sex, and marital status were also gathered. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.

Background: mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) is a common practice before laparoscopic gynecologic surgeries but the role and efficacy of preparation have been questioned. this study assesses visualization and bowel handling in a group of patients who receive MBP and the control group and thereafter; compares the results.
Methods: We designed and conducted this randomized, single-blinded and controlled trial on patients who underwent advanced gynecologic laparoscopic surgeries. This clinical trial was carried out between July 2020 and January 2021. The patients were enrolled from l the laparoscopic office. 120 women aged 18-65 years undergoing level 2 and 3 benign gynecologic laparoscopic surgeries were randomized to bowel preparation with a normal saline enema (n=60) or non-bowel preparation (n=60) groups. Our patients underwent level 2 and 3 of benign laparoscopic gynecologic surgeries with or without MBP. The visualization and bowel handling were assessed by the primary surgical team and a questionnaire was later obtained. The outcomes included intraoperative surgical view and bowel handling, preoperative and post-operative patient signs and symptoms. The patients were also assessed in respect to discomfort prior and after the surgery, this assessment was obtained using a questionnaire. The gathered data was analyzed using IBM’s SPSS v26 software.

Background: The training and education of competent and qualified surgeons have been one of the challenges of the surgical profession. The concept of surgical competence has been affected widely due to a series of developments in the new disease emergence, various surgical techniques and the introduction of advanced tools and equipment into the operating. The development of surgical competence and achieving this goal requires accurate identification and analysis of the dimensions of competence. This study was done to explain the concept of surgical competence using the 8-step Walker and Avant approach.
Methods: This study is a qualitative study that was conducted from May- October 2016 at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The present study is a qualitative and conceptual analysis study, which is done with Walker&Avant's eight-step approach to determine the defining characteristics of the concept of surgical competence. A systematic search was conducted between 1990 and 2020 by keywords search such as surgery, surgical, operation OR laparoscopy AND competence competency development competency proficient, proficiency, expertise, clinical, in the database like Google Scholar, PubMed, SID, Magiran, Scopus, Web of Science. Twenty articles were included in the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Moreover, the defining features of the concept were extracted from it.

Results: Based on the results of this study, the concept of surgical competence was defined and the four dimensions of elements, goals, components and the process of developing surgical competence were identified. Then, by clarifying the characteristics of surgical competence, a model of surgical competence development was drawn. Surgical competence development depends on the acquisition of specialized knowledge and numerous skills that are acquired through experience and deliberated practice under the supervision of others in the surgical community of practice and over time. Conclusion: Surgical competence is a set of observable and measurable skills that allows a surgeon to manage the surgical process independently pbt while maintaining the patient's safety. It includes specialized knowledge, communication skills, cognitive and technical skills, and basic surgical skills.

Background: Double lumen tube (DLT) is used in lung surgeries. Classically, the patient should undergo fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) to confirm the location of the DLT and its proper function. However, the sensitivity of ultrasound and clinical methods in diagnosing the correct position of DLT has not yet been definitively determined. This study was designed to assess the accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound and auscultation versus Fiberoptic Bronchoscope in determining the position of the Double-Lumen Tube.
Methods: This cross-sectional study of diagnostic value measurement type was conducted on patients who were candidates for double lumen implantation. After induction of anesthesia, DLT with the appropriate size was implanted, and then the position of DLT was evaluated. In the first step, the lungs were examined by auscultation, then the ultrasound was performed, and two signs of lung pulse sign and lung sliding sign were examined as signs of normal lung and ventilated lung. FOB was performed by an anesthesiologist. At the end, by opening the chest after surgery, the surgeon's opinion about the quality of lung collapse was recorded.

Results: In our study, the correct placement of the tube was correct in 37 cases and wrong in 3 cases, which were checked and corrected by FOB. Vital signs of the patients were stable before and during the operation. There were no problems with anesthesia during the surgery. Diagnostic sensitivity of lung auscultation clinical examination was 64.9% and chest ultrasound was 91.9%. The sensitivity of ultrasound compared to auscultation was not significant (P=0.242), but there was a clinically significant difference in the positive predictive value of the two, so that the positive predictive value of lung auscultation was 88.9% and lung ultrasound was 91.9%. In terms of surgeon satisfaction level, 22 cases (59.5%) had excellent satisfaction and 15 cases (40.5%) had moderate satisfaction. The sensitivity of ultrasound was not significant in comparison with the surgeon's satisfaction. Conclusion: Ultrasound can be a good substitute for FOB. Although ultrasound cannot have all the functions of FOB, but having advantages such as lower cost, speed of operation, and non-invasiveness, makes it more practical than FOB.

Background: Nowadays, beauty practices have attracted the attention of people following the change in lifestyle and social values. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of examining the opinion of experts regarding the challenges and management solutions of the aforementioned practices in Iran.
Methods: This qualitative study was conducted through interviews with 26 policymakers and cosmetic surgery service providers in Tehran from April to September 2022. Sampling was purposeful and snowball. The interviews were semi-structured and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data obtained from the interviews. The inclusion criteria for the interviewees' entry were knowledge and experience in the subject and willingness to participate.

Results: Challenges under the four categories of service providers (improper education, non-specialist providers, moral hazards, deficiencies in the way laws are written, and the ineffectiveness of the complaint handling process), service receivers (being influenced by deceptive advertisements, low level of public health literacy and lack of mental health), the place of providing services (performing surgeries in non-standard places and non-integrated information system) and medicines, products and medical equipment (insufficient control over supply, distribution and use and price fluctuations) were categorized. Experts considered the major part of the challenges to be related to the service providers. In the category of service recipients, "being influenced by deceptive advertisements" was the main problem mentioned by the experts. Performing surgeries in non-standard places, including limited surgery centers, non-sterile places, and unauthorized places, is among the unsolved problems regarding the place of providing services. In relation to medicines, products, and medical equipment, the main problem was insufficient supply, distribution, and use supervision. Conclusion: The main effective measure to solve the challenges is to strengthen the supervision of the health system administrator with internal and external coordination and cooperation. In this regard, it is recommended to develop educational, ethical, and legal frameworks, regulate regulatory laws, public awareness, clinical interviews and psychological counseling, especially before cosmetic surgery, and the establishment of an integrated electronic health record system.

Background: Preventing the cancellation of surgeries is an important and devastating challenge in operating room management. Cancellation of pre-scheduled surgeries at the last moment in the operation room leads to increased length of stay, patient dissatisfaction, human resource consumption and financial burden for patients and the health care system. In this study, we have investigated the effect of recording the causes of surgery cancellations in the operation room on the incidence of surgery cancellations in patients who have been candidates for non-emergent surgeries.
Methods: A total of 545 surgeries which had been canceled in different types of surgery between March 2014 and March 2015 were recorded according to the reasons for cancellation in predetermined forms and the information was analyzed. The most common reasons for cancellation included changing the plan of treatment from surgery, a high-risk comorbidity with a high probability of mortality, patient’s refusal from surgery, an unanticipated duration of previous surgery longer than anticipated, the unavailability of an ICU bed in the hospital, requested laboratory data not being ready, failing to prepare requested packed RBCs and other hospital or patient-related problems.

Results: The percentage of surgery cancellations in most groups including orthopedics, urology, cardiac surgery, general surgery, gynecology and maxillofacial surgery, decreased during the course of this study. According to our findings the most relevant cause of non-emergent surgery cancellation was the unpredictable increased duration of previous surgery. The maxillofacial surgery group reached the highest surgery cancellation reduction rate and the cardiovascular surgery group experienced the lowest cancellation reduction rate. Also, the percentage of surgery cancellations in the field of neurosurgery increased during the study period. Conclusion: Recording the reasons mentioned by the surgical team as the reason for canceling surgeries and reducing the rate of their occurrence during the study and providing appropriate feedback and dialogue in this case had a positive effect on reducing the rate of cancellation of the surgeries and reducing the mentioned reasons.

Background: Urinary stress incontinence occurs due to weakness of the urethral sphincter and/or weakness of the pelvic floor muscles. The purpose of this study is to investigate the complications of TOT surgery in the treatment of women with stress urinary February.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on women suffering from stress urinary incontinence who underwent TOT surgery in Rohani and Mehregan Hospitals of Babol between March 2010 and February 2019. In order to record early complications, the medical records available in the clinic were referred to for the examination of patients one week and two months after the operation. The late complications of the operation were also investigated at the time of entering the study. Also, satisfaction with the procedure was scored using a visual scale (score 0 to 100). SPSS version 26 software was used in this study. Also, the significance level is less than 0.05.

Results: The study included 59 patients, the majority of whom were housewives (91.5%), had an education level below high school (74.6%), and were menopausal (71.2%). The average age of the participants is 54.92±9.40 years. The most common postoperative complications were Dyspareunia (20.3%), lower urinary symptoms (13.6%), and incontinency (10.2%). Also, the rarest complications were intraoperative injury to the urethra or bladder (1.7%), mild Vaginal erogenous (1.7%), pain at the operation site (3.4%), and need for adjuvant treatment (3.4%). In response to the question of whether you would recommend this surgery to others who have the same problem, 53 people (83.89%) responded positively. The average level of patients' satisfaction with the operation (on a scale of 0 to 100) was 88.64±23.44. According to the T-test, there is a statistically significant relationship between the incidence of postoperative complications and the level of patient satisfaction (P<0.001). Conclusion: Dyspareunia is the most common and complications during surgery such as damage to the urethra are the rarest complications of TOT surgery.

For over 50 years, bone cement has been used to strengthen artificial joints like hip, knee, shoulder, and elbow joints. The main purpose of bone cement is to fill the space between the prosthesis and the bone. This absorbs the forces on the joint by creating an elastic area. Besides ensuring the long-term stability of the artificial implant, it also improves the damaged bone. Polymeric bone cement consists of a polymer matrix known as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and a liquid monomer called methyl methacrylate (MMA). When these two components are mixed, a free radical polymerization reaction occurs, leading to the cement's hardening at the place of use. The properties of bone cement, such as mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and handling characteristics, can be adjusted by combining the effective polymerization parameters. However, there are some challenges, such as heat generation during polymerization. Ceramic bone cement is a composite material of ceramic particles dispersed in a polymer matrix, including calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate. The ceramic particles provide strength and bioactivity, while the polymer matrix enhances the transport properties of the cement. This combination results in a mechanically stable, bone-conductive, and biocompatible cement. Moreover, ceramic bone cement can be engineered to release therapeutic agents, such as antibiotics or growth factors, to prevent infection and foster bone regeneration. Ceramic bone cement is a promising alternative material for bone cement in joint replacement. However, more research and development are required to optimize the properties of bone cement and overcome the challenges associated with its use. With continued advancements in biomaterials, ceramic and polymer bone cement could revolutionize the field of orthopedic surgery and improve patient outcomes. Recent research has focused on developing new bone cement with improved properties like bioactivity, antibacterial activity, and drug delivery capabilities. These developments aim to enhance the performance of bone cement and remove the current limitations in orthopedic applications. In this review study, we will focus on the types of bone cement, their mechanical, biological, and structural properties, and how to optimize them.

Background: Infertility is defined as the inability to achieve conception after one year of unprotected intercourse. This study aimed to explore the factors associated with infertility in men referred to the infertility center at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ahvaz.
Methods: This descriptive study utilized a cross-sectional questionnaire during March 2016 to September 2019, involving 800 infertile couples with complete records. We extracted demographic data, including age, occupation, duration of infertility, smoking habits, surgical history, semen analysis, and sperm condition and quality from the files of these men referred to the IVF department. The collected details were systematically entered into an information form. Quantitative results are presented as mean±standard deviation, with differences of p<0.05 between groups deemed statistically significant.

Results: In this study, the average age of the men referred for evaluation was 33.5 years. The analysis of semen quality revealed a mean semen volume of 2.34 mL, which falls within the acceptable range for normal ejaculate volume, typically defined as being greater than 1.4 mL. The average sperm count recorded was 16,365,000 per mL. Additionally, our study demonstrated that only 5.8% of the sperm exhibited normal morphology. Sperm motility, another key factor in male fertility, averaged at 9.24%, significantly lower than the normal standard. Regarding employment status, a significant majority of participants were employed (89%), while 11% were unemployed. The surgical history among the referred men primarily included varicocelectomy (n=108), hemorrhoid surgery (n=29), urinary tract procedures (n=28), testicular hernia repairs (n=23), and appendectomies (n=18). Additionally, 24% of the subjects reported drug use, with a notable distinction made between smoking and other forms of drug use. Conclusion: The findings from this study underscore significant concerns regarding male fertility among the referred men, particularly in terms of sperm count, motility, and morphology. These metrics suggest that many individuals may face challenges in achieving conception without medical intervention. Understanding these factors is crucial for developing effective treatment plans and improving reproductive outcomes for men facing infertility issues.