Male fertility is also very important and must be considered. Male infertility is responsible for half of the infertility cases. Today, we have the technology to diagnose it and treat it.
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) along with newer techniques such as Physiological Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (PICSI) have helped millions of couples have their babies.
Let’s look at the tests for male fertility.
Sperm analysis includes 4 measurement parameters according to the criteria of the World Health Organization:
• Sample volume: must be at least 2ml.
• The number of sperm per ml: must be at least 15 million / ml
• Sperm motility: must be at least 32% (anterior and in situ movement)
• The percentage of sperm with normal morphology: must be over 4%.
The measurement of oxidative stress is highly recommended, too:
• The value of oxidative stress should be up to 1.38 mV / million. sperm / ml
A sperm sample is considered ‘normal’ when it meets all 5 of the above conditions. However, when the level in some parameters is lower than the limits of the World Health Organization, then it is considered that this man is experiencing ‘male infertility’, for example:
• If the number of sperm is less than 15 million / ml, then we say that there is ‘oligospermia’.
• If sperm motility is less than 32%, then we are talking about ‘asthenospermia’.
• If the percentage of sperm with normal morphology is less than 4%, then it is ‘teratospermia’.
• There is a possibility of combination of these, such as: oligoasthenospermia (low number and mobility), oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (all parameters low) and so on.
Based on the results, the fertility expert and embryologists may suggest freezing a low-quality sperm sample for use in a future IVF treatment. Azoospermia
If there are no sperm in the sperm sample, then it is called ‘azoospermia’.
