MALE INFERTILITY
Male infertility is the inability of a male to impregnate a woman even after a year of unprotected sexual intercourse. A male is entirely responsible for around 20% of infertility cases and is a contributing factor in another 30% to 40% of all infertility cases. Mostly, the male and female cases co-exist, hence it is crucial that both the partners are investigated for infertility and managed together. Moreover, the male factor substantially contributes to around 50% of all cases of infertility.
There is a heap of reasons why male infertility occurs, including both reversible as well as irreversible conditions. Other factors that might influence each of the partners could be their age, medications, exposure to environmental toxins, genetic problems, and systematic diseases.
Male Infertility At Sishu Fertility Clinic
Sishu Fertility clinic has longstanding partnerships with the region’s most experienced male infertility specialists (Urologists), who diagnose thousands of cases each year and develop customized treatment plans that lead to successful outcomes.
Male Infertility Causes
Azoospermia: No sperm cells in the semen because of any physical obstructions, hormonal issues, or testicular failure could be the reason behind infertility.
Oligospermia: Low sperm count or poor sperm motility can also lead to decreased chances of fertilization.
Genetic Disorder: Another cause might be a genetic disorder like; Klinefelter syndrome, Y chromosome microdeletions, and cystic fibrosis that can affect sperm quality as well as production.
Hormonal issues: Hormonal imbalance issues like low testosterone levels or high prolactin levels, can also impact sperm function and production.
Varicocele: Enlarged veins in the scrotum which can cause heat damage to the sperm and in turn affect the sperm count and motility.
Infection: Infections like; prostatitis, epididymitis, and sexually transmitted infections, can also damage the sperm as well as the reproductive organs.
Medications and drugs: Some medications like; anabolic steroids, chemotherapy, or recreational drugs can also impact sperm production and function.
Environmental factors: High exposure to toxins, radiation, or excessive heat (from saunas or even laptops) can damage the sperm.
Lifestyle factors: Your day-to-day lifestyle factors might also lead to male infertility like; smoking, alcohol consumption, and poor diet. These things will affect your overall health and in turn sperm production as well.
Age-related infertility: Sperm count as well as the quality of sperm tends to decline as men age.
Erectile dysfunction and Ejaculation disorders: These disorders can affect a man’s ability to achieve or maintain an erection or to ejaculate properly.
Trauma to the testes: This can damage the reproductive organs and severely affect sperm production and function.
There might be several other possible causes behind the male infertility issue. A doctor or fertility specialist will be able to identify the potential causes and create a treatment plan accordingly.
Once a new semen sample is collected either through self-stimulation at home or at the Sishu Fertility Clinic collection location, our laboratory team will closely examine it under a microscope to analyze the following component:
VOLUME
Semen volume is the amount of ejaculated fluid. Usually, the semen volume falls between 1.5 to 5 milliliters. Lower semen volumes lead to a low sperm count and are associated with a reduced fertility rate. Normal semen contains at least 15 million sperm per milliliter. There are a lot of reasons affecting semen volumes including psychological issues.
MOTILITY
The term sperm motility refers to the movement of a man’s sperm. The analysis assesses if the sperm are swimming properly and are in a straight line. Then, the sperms receive letter grades starting from A to D, A being the fastest and straightest swimmers, and a D is given to those that don’t move at all. If the test sample reveals that less than 25 to 30 percent of the sperm are moving forward progressively then the sperm motility is regarded as low.
MORPHOLOGY
Sperm morphology refers to the shape of the sperm, which includes head size and head DNA content (revealed by a nuclear color stain), the midpiece appearance, and the structure of the tail. The head shape plays an important role as it can affect the sperm’s ability to penetrate the outer surface of a woman’s egg to fertilize it.
CONCENTRATION
The concentration of sperm or sperm density is the total number of sperm per milliliter of semen. Sperm concentration is regarded as an important influence on fertility. According to the world health organization(WHO), normal sperm concentration ranges anywhere from 15-259 million sperm per milliliter.
APPEARANCE
Appearance of the semen can indicate any unlying issues. Normal semen is usually a whitish-gray color, and might have a slightly yellowish tint. The consistency of semen is typically thick and viscous but becomes more liquid after ejaculation.
When the appearance of semen is abnormal in terms of clarity, color, or consistency, this might be an indication of any underlying issue. If semen is yellowish or greenish in color then it may indicate the presence of infection and if it is reddish-brown then it may indicate the presence of blood.
MALE HORMONE TESTING
We may, from time to time, conduct a blood test to check for genetic or hormonal conditions. These causes are generally less prevalent than others. As a result, testing is rarely carried out unless there are additional underlying factors.
We rely on extensive fertility testing and analysis at Shisu Fertility Clinic.
There are a lot of treatment options that we might suggest if we discover a problem with the semen analysis that could make it hard to get pregnant. A consultation with a urologist, a specialist in male infertility, will be our recommendation.
IUI
IUI stands for intrauterine insemination. It’s also sometimes called donor insemination, alternative insemination, or artificial insemination. IUI works by putting sperm cells directly into your uterus around the time you’re ovulating, helping the sperm get closer to your egg. This cuts down on the time and distance sperm travels, making it easier to fertilize your egg.
IVF
IVF stands for In virto fertilization. This is a type of assisted reproductive technology that includes the fertilization of an egg with the sperm outside of the female body, in a laboratory dish or test tube. This process starts with the stimulation of the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. After that, these eggs are retrieved and mixed with sperm in a laboratory dish for fertilization.
ICSI
ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) is a form of assisted reproductive technology used to treat male infertility. In traditional IVF (In vitro fertilization), the sperm is introduced to the egg in a dish and left to fertilize naturally. However, in cases where the sperm is not able to penetrate the egg due to low motility or abnormal morphology, ICSI can be used to directly inject a single sperm into the egg to facilitate fertilization.
VARICOCELE SURGERY
Because a varicocele rarely produces symptoms, it is not uncommon for a man not to be aware of it unless it causes problems with fertility. Surgical treatment redirects the blood flow toward normal veins. Surgery is done on an outpatient basis.
PESA
Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (PESA) is a procedure that involves a fine needle being passed into the epididymis for fluid extraction which is then checked immediately by the embryologist for the presence of sperm. The epididymis is a duct that is behind the testes where sperm cells are collected and mature prior to ejaculation.
MESA
Microsurgical Epididymal Sperm(MESA) refers to the retrieval of sperm-containing fluid from the epididymis that is sent for processing and extraction of the sperms. This procedure is conducted using an operating microscope that provides the high optical magnification required for this procedure. To induce fertilization and pregnancy, the extracted sperm is then directly injected into the partner’s egg by a procedure known as Intracytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI.
TESE
TESE(Testicular Sperm Extraction), is the extraction of small portions of the tissue from the testicle through a minor surgical procedure under anesthesia. This procedure is also referred to as testicular biopsy. After the treatment of the tissue samples, usually, it is possible to extract single sperm cells that can later be used for fertility treatments like ICSI.