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As many as forty percent of couples experience infertility associated with the male partner. Usually, a man must produce healthy, actively moving sperm cells. These specialized cells must pass freely from the testes, through the penis, and be capable of traveling through the uterus into the fallopian tubes.
Male infertility may be associated with several conditions such as low sperm count or low motility of the sperm cells.
Some conditions associated with diminished male fertility are:
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Illnesses resulting in high fever or infection.
- Previous surgery such as vasectomy, hernia or testes repair.
- Enlarged varicose veins around the testes (varicocele).
- Injury or trauma to the testes, including sports injuries or radiation exposure.
- Exposure to certain drugs one environmental hazards (tobacco).
 Testing for infertility in the male begins with a complete medical history and physical examination. A semen sample is collected and analyzed in our special laboratories. The sample is checked for sperm count, motility, sperm shape and other factors. A single semen analysis is only a screening test and does not provide a diagnosis, and thus, more advanced testing may be required.
It is important to recall that infertility is a couple's condition and frequently, both male and female factors may be present. For example, the female partner may develop sperm antibodies and/or unfriendly cervical mucus against her partner's sperm cells. This underscores the need for both male and female partners to be tested simultaneously when searching for the causes of infertility.
Treating Male Infertility
For a long time male infertility was a mystery. Today, however, an accurate diagnosis can be made in about eighty percent of cases, and treatment is successful in more than half of these. Only when the cause of the man’s infertility is isolated can effective treatment begin. A low sperm count or low motility may be caused by a hormonal imbalance or by damaged sperm-producing cells due to infection, trauma or a varicocele. Abnormalities associated with varicoceles occasionally respond to surgical correction.
The ability to deliver the sperm into the woman’s vagina may also be a problem. This may be due to obstruction of the man’s sperm passages resulting from trauma, surgery or genetic malformation. Micro-surgery may correct these problems. The most exciting new development for severe male factor infertility is called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). It involves capturing and injecting a single sperm cell directly into the female egg cell. Our program enjoys an 85% fertilization rate using the ICSI technique.
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