Male Infertility
March 18, 2007
There are many factors that can create infertility, and men do contribute to significant portion of it. There are many places where things can go wrong, not allowing for fertilization to occur naturally. Treatments, however, are very promising for men who are having problems conceiving a child.
What is usually first done to determine where a problem may lie is a semen analysis. This test will determine several sperm parameters, such as how many, are they moving, or do they look ok? Amazingly enough, several millions of normally functioning sperm are required to produce a pregnancy during intercourse. This is because the vast majority dies off before reaching the cervix or the uterus. For those that do make it, they can remain in the fallopian tube, uterus, and cervix for up to 3 days to wait for an egg to fertilize. If these vast quantities of sperm are not produced, then it may be difficult to impossible to achieve a pregnancy.
In these circumstances, an Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) can be performed to place all sperm closer to the fallopian tube and egg. But even with an IUI, the sperm still have to be able to find and swim to the egg and have the capacity to penetrate its shell to that it can fertilize it. This still requires a few million good sperm to achieve this process through an IUI. However with the advent of Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), only one sperm is required per egg to achieve fertilization.
ICSI basically means manually injecting the sperm directly into the egg to create fertilization. The sperm doesn’t have to move or even be normally shaped. It just has to contribute it’s genetics for the egg to create an embryo and eventually a child. ICSI is truly a revolutionary technique that was incorporated that alleviated male infertility. Otherwise, the treatment prior to it’s invention was to use donor sperm.
There are men who on a semen analysis have no sperm present and this can be due to two different factors. There can be a tubal obstruction of the vas deference, say from a vasectomy, that doesn’t’ allow sperm to leave or there can be no sperm production. After a proper urological work-up, the presence of intratesticular sperm should be determined by performing a biopsy. If sperm are present, then these can be retrieved and ICSI performed during IVF. If no sperm are present in a biopsy even after medical intervention, then a donor sperm sample should be considered.
The whole process of infertility can be stressful and challenging, which can lead to depression, loss of libido, and erectile dysfunction (ED). Proper counseling and support along with a medical prescription can help avoid these symptoms allowing one to fully enjoy their sexual life.
What is usually first done to determine where a problem may lie is a semen analysis. This test will determine several sperm parameters, such as how many, are they moving, or do they look ok? Amazingly enough, several millions of normally functioning sperm are required to produce a pregnancy during intercourse. This is because the vast majority dies off before reaching the cervix or the uterus. For those that do make it, they can remain in the fallopian tube, uterus, and cervix for up to 3 days to wait for an egg to fertilize. If these vast quantities of sperm are not produced, then it may be difficult to impossible to achieve a pregnancy.
In these circumstances, an Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) can be performed to place all sperm closer to the fallopian tube and egg. But even with an IUI, the sperm still have to be able to find and swim to the egg and have the capacity to penetrate its shell to that it can fertilize it. This still requires a few million good sperm to achieve this process through an IUI. However with the advent of Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), only one sperm is required per egg to achieve fertilization.
ICSI basically means manually injecting the sperm directly into the egg to create fertilization. The sperm doesn’t have to move or even be normally shaped. It just has to contribute it’s genetics for the egg to create an embryo and eventually a child. ICSI is truly a revolutionary technique that was incorporated that alleviated male infertility. Otherwise, the treatment prior to it’s invention was to use donor sperm.
There are men who on a semen analysis have no sperm present and this can be due to two different factors. There can be a tubal obstruction of the vas deference, say from a vasectomy, that doesn’t’ allow sperm to leave or there can be no sperm production. After a proper urological work-up, the presence of intratesticular sperm should be determined by performing a biopsy. If sperm are present, then these can be retrieved and ICSI performed during IVF. If no sperm are present in a biopsy even after medical intervention, then a donor sperm sample should be considered.
The whole process of infertility can be stressful and challenging, which can lead to depression, loss of libido, and erectile dysfunction (ED). Proper counseling and support along with a medical prescription can help avoid these symptoms allowing one to fully enjoy their sexual life.
