Andrology (from grc, ἀνήρ, ''anēr'',

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

, ''andros'', "man"; and , ''

-logia ''-logy'' is a suffix in the English language, used with words originally adapted from Ancient Greek ending in ('). The earliest English examples were anglicizations of the French '' -logie'', which was in turn inherited from the Latin '' -logi ...

'') is a name for the

medical specialty A medical specialty is a branch of medical practice that is focused on a defined group of patients, diseases, skills, or philosophy. Examples include those branches of medicine that deal exclusively with children (paediatrics), cancer (oncology), ...

that deals with

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

health, particularly relating to the problems of the

male reproductive system The male reproductive system consists of a number of sex organs that play a role in the process of human reproduction. These organs are located on the outside of the body and within the pelvis. The main male sex organs are the penis and the tes ...

and

urological Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive organ ...

problems that are unique to

men A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...

. It is the counterpart to

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

, which deals with medical issues which are specific to female health, especially reproductive and urologic health.

Process

Andrology covers anomalies in the connective tissues pertaining to the genitalia, as well as changes in the volume of cells, such as in genital hypertrophy or macrogenitosomia. From reproductive and urologic viewpoints, male-specific medical and

surgical procedures Many Surgery, surgical procedure names can be broken into parts to indicate the meaning. For example, in gastrectomy, "ectomy" is a suffix (linguistics), suffix meaning the removal of a part of the body. "Gastro-" means stomach. Thus, ''gastrectom ...

include

vasectomy Vasectomy, or vasoligation, is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilization or permanent contraception. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied or sealed so as to prevent sperm from entering into the urethra and ...

vasovasostomy Vasovasostomy (literally connection of the vas to the vas) is a surgery by which vasectomies are partially reversed. Another surgery for vasectomy reversal is vasoepididymostomy. History Vasovasostomy is a form of microsurgery first performe ...

(one of the vasectomy reversal procedures), orchidopexy and

circumcision Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

as well as intervention to deal with male genitourinary disorders such as the following: Male anatomy en

History

Unlike gynaecology, which has a plethora of medical board certification programs worldwide, andrology has none. Andrology has only been studied as a distinct specialty since the late 1960s: the first specialist journal on the subject was the German periodical ''Andrologie'' (now called ''Andrologia''), published from 1969 onwards. The next specialty journal covering both the basic and clinical andrology was the ''International Journal of Andrology'', established in 1978, which became the official journal of the European Academy of Andrology in 1992. In 1980 the American Society of Andrology launched the ''Journal of Andrology''. In 2012, these two society journals merged into one premier journal in the field, named ''Andrology'', with the first issue published in January 2013.

References

Andrology Andrology (from grc, ἀνήρ, ''anēr'', genitive , ''andros'', "man"; and , ''-logia'') is a name for the medical specialty that deals with male health, particularly relating to the problems of the male reproductive system and urological probl ...

Process

History

See also

References

External links