Reversible Toxic Effect of Salicylazosulf Apyridine on Semen Quality
Open accessAbstract
The semen qualities of six patients with salicylazosulfapyridine-treated chronic ulcerative colitis are discussed. Over-all poor parameters were observed during the treatment period. Reduced motility and a shift in morphology were the most significant abnormalities in the specimens. A characteristic megalo cell type occurred in the morphology with a frequency of 3% to 8%. In three patients when no medical contraindication existed, discontinuation of the drug resulted in a dramatic improvement in the semen quality, and all three reported pregnancies within the ensuing 3 months. A possible reversible toxic effect of salicylazosulfapyridine on semen quality is discussed.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Macrozoospermia may be of iatrogenic origin, as described after treatment with sulphasalazine for ulcerating colitis and Crohn's disease, and in this context the abnormality is reversible and may resolve when the treatment is changed.
“Alternately, macrozoospermia may be of iatrogenic origin, as described after treatment with sulphasalazine for ulcerating colitis and Crohn's disease. In this context, the abnormality is reversible and may resolve when the treatment is changed [52, 53].”
From Recommendations for Human Sperm Morphology Assessment in 2025: An Expert Review From the French BLEFCO Group (2026) · cites this paper as [52]
The Abstract (page not specified) reports a characteristic megalo cell type during salicylazosulfapyridine treatment for chronic ulcerative colitis and dramatic improvement in overall semen quality after three patients stopped the drug. It does not study Crohn’s disease or establish that the megalo-cell abnormality itself resolved, rather than semen quality overall. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Caprilli, R., Gassull, M. A., Escher, J. C., Moser, G., Munkholm, P., Forbes, A., Hommes, D. W., Lochs, H., Angelucci, E., Cocco, A., et al. (2006) · Gut · doi:10.1136/gut.2005.081950c · Cited by 428 · see citing works
The Effects of Sulfasalazine on Human Male Fertility Potential and Seminal Prostaglandins
Cosentino, M. J., Chey, W. Y., Takihara, H., & Cockett, A. T. K. (1984) · Journal of Urology · doi:10.1016/s0022-5347(17)49824-7 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Gatimel, N., Barbotin, A., Mery, L., Beauvillard, D., Bendayan, M., Boursier, A., Boueilh, T., Pereira, B., Chammas, J., Jacquet, J., et al. (2026) · Andrology · doi:10.1111/andr.70134 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Toth, A.
- Corresponding author
- Toth, Attila
- Venue
- Fertility and Sterility
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1979-05
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 538-540
- ISSN
- 0015-0282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2412758280
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 6.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Fertility and Sterility (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Sperm and Testicular Function
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Biology and Fertility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pharmacological Effects and Toxicity Studies
- Keywords
- sulfasalazine, semen quality, ulcerative colitis, sperm motility, sperm morphology, drug discontinuation, reversible toxicity
- MeSH terms
- Colitis, Ulcerative, Humans, Infertility, Male, Male, Sulfasalazine, Semen, Sperm Motility, Spermatozoa
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
