TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Men undergoing hormone deprivation therapy to keep prostate cancer at bay may experience memory loss and have trouble concentrating, a new study finds.

Testosterone is thought to help spur prostate cancer. So, androgen depletion therapy has been used for many years to treat the disease. By reducing the level of testosterone, the treatment helps to slow the growth of prostate cancer cells.

However, "androgen depletion therapy can potentially have some subtle, adverse cognitive effects," said lead researcher Christian J. Nelson, from the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

These effects include difficulty in remembering and multi-tasking, Nelson said. "These men might not be thinking as quickly as they used to," he said. "They may find it more difficult to hold several pieces of information in their mind at one time."

The report was published in the July 28 online edition of Cancer.

For the study, Nelson's group reviewed a variety of studies in both animals and people that looked at the effects of androgen depletion therapy on cognition. They found that, depending on the study, between 47 percent and 69 percent of men treated with a hormonal approach did experience some decline in at least one area of cognition.

Troubling as the cognitive effects might seem, men should not seek to discontinue their therapy, Nelson said. "Treating the disease is much more important than these subtle cognitive effects," he said.

It's not known whether these effects are a direct result of hormone depletion or whether they are tied to the other side effects of hormone therapy. Those side effects include hot flashes, fatigue and anemia.

The research in this area is new, and not much is known about the full extent of cognitive problems brought on by androgen depletion, Nelson said. As for specific advice, Nelson noted there is no standard recommendation, but a few common sense tips may help.

"As men start this therapy, it is important to monitor them to see if they are having any of these effects," Nelson said. "If you are having difficulty with memory, make sure you are writing things down more. If you are having difficulty with multi-tasking, try simple things like focusing on one thing at a time," he said.

It is possible that when hormone therapy is stopped, these adverse cognitive effects go away, Nelson added.

Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate and colorectal cancers at the American Cancer Society, said the study highlights a largely ignored side effect of androgen depletion therapy.

Recent studies have also shown an increased risk of fracture and other conditions associated with the treatment, he said.

"There is a study that suggests that cardiovascular death rates may be higher among men undergoing this therapy. There is clear evidence that there is an increase in metabolic syndrome, which is associated with coronary artery disease and diabetes," Brooks said.

Moreover, androgen depletion therapy continues to be offered in situations where its benefits are not clear, Brooke said. Androgen depletion therapy may not be appropriate for treating early disease and should only be used in cases of advanced prostate cancer, he said.

"Many men are being treated with androgen depletion therapy for localized disease," Brooks said. "A study that was published just last month shows there is no survival advantage for most men in that situation," he said. "Men need to decide whether the potential benefit outweighs the harm of the therapy for them."

More information

For more about cancer, visit the American Cancer Society  .

THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- A simple, minimally invasive procedure can treat a common cause of male infertility and improve a couple's chances of having a baby, a new study finds.

The condition, called varicocele, is a network of tangled blood vessels in the scrotum which prevents the normal circulation of blood through the veins in the testicles. A minimally invasive radiological procedure called embolization can, in most cases, correct the problem.

"Using the embolization of varicoceles, we were able to improve factors related to infertility, especially sperm count and sperm motility," said lead researcher Dr. Sebastian Flacke, an associate professor of radiology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.

In embolization, a small catheter is inserted into the groin and, using X-ray guidance, is placed in the varicocele. Once the catheter is placed, a tiny platinum coil and a few milliliters of an agent to ensure the closure of the gonadic vein are also inserted.

The minimally invasive procedure has a short recovery time; most patients go home the next day.

Varicoceles are very common, Flacke noted. In fact, about 20 percent of all men have them. Not all of these cause infertility or need to be treated, he said. The problem is usually treated if it causes pain, shrinkage or fertility problems.

"If you're dealing with infertility and have varicoceles -- this should be treated," Flacke said. By improving sperm count, the treatment could also be valuable in situations where the woman is having problems conceiving, he added.

"Most of the time, infertility is on both the male and female side," Flacke said. "Most of the time females get treated first if there is an issue, and men are neglected. I think you could boost the performance of the sperm if a varicocele is present and treated."

Flacke noted that the success rate of the treatment is very high. More than 95 percent of the time the procedure corrects the problem.

The report is published in the August issue of Radiology.

For the study, Flacke's team collected data on 223 infertile men with at least one varicose vein. All the men had healthy partners with whom they wanted to have a baby.

Flacke's group used embolization to successfully relieve 226 of the 228 varicose veins among the men. Three months after the procedure, the researchers analyzed the sperm of 173 patients. The analysis showed, on average, that sperm motility and sperm count had significantly improved.

After six months, 45 couples (26 percent) reported a pregnancy. "That's a very large number for a simple procedure," Flacke said.

Infertility expert Dr. Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, an associate professor of urology at UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School and Hackensack University Medical Center, thinks this procedure can be useful even if it is not the preferred one.

Sadeghi-Nejad noted that, as a rule, infertility treatment begins with a woman. "The fact is that a male factor is responsible for infertility in about half of the cases," he said. "Varicoceles are one example of the male factor that can affect fertility."

If you do treat varicoceles properly, you do get improvement in sperm counts and pregnancy rates, Sadeghi-Nejad said.

However, there are drawbacks to embolization, Sadeghi-Nejad added. These include a steep learning curve to get used to doing the procedure and the danger of prolonged or misdirected radiation, especially if there are varicoceles on both sides of the scrotum.

"I recommend, in experienced hands, a microsurgical varicocelectomy, which is a very quick operation with minimal time off work," Sadeghi-Nejad said. "The patient is back to work in two or three days."

More information

For more on infertility, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.