Purpose: Most spinal cord injured men require assisted ejaculation procedures to obtain semen, and the majority can achieve this result by vibratory stimulation or electroejaculation. We determined if semen obtained by vibratory stimulation differed in quality from that obtained by electroejaculation.
Materials and methods: Between subjects and within subjects designs were used. Of 77 spinal cord injured men 23 underwent vibratory stimulation only, 44 electroejaculation only and 10 both procedures. Antegrade, retrograde and total ejaculates were analyzed in each subject for total sperm count, percent motile sperm and percent sperm with rapid linear motion.
Results: With vibratory stimulation compared to electroejaculation the percent motile sperm and percent sperm with rapid linear motion were significantly greater, whereas total sperm count was similar, in the antegrade specimens and total ejaculates. This finding was true for different groups of subjects as well as within a group of the same subjects.
Conclusions: Semen obtained by vibratory stimulation is of better quality than that obtained by electroejaculation. In medical practices that include assisted ejaculation of spinal cord injured men, we recommend obtaining a specimen by vibratory stimulation. If that method fails electroejaculation should be performed.