The Fertility
Institutes - Home Page
The Fertility
Institutes - Home Page
Semen Analysis; General Information
Semen Analysis; Detailed Information
on "Advanced and Research Sperm Testing"
NUMBERS IN ITALICS ARE WHAT "NORMAL" VALUES SHOULD BE:
SPERM COUNTS Laboratories performing sperm "counts", in general, vary in the details that they provide the physician requesting the "count". A general sperm count as part of a fertility evaluation should include the total density or count (20 million per ml or above), and the motile density (8 million per ml or higher). The motile density is perhaps the most important part of the semen analysis, as it reports the total number of sperm thought capable of progressing from the site of sperm deposition to the site of fertilization. This value is essential in both allowing a determination regarding whether or not a semen analysis is "normal", as well as in providing prognostic information should advanced reproductive medical assistance be required.
Definitions of "abnormal" counts:
Definitions of Abnormal Sperm "Motility"
ANTISPERM ANTIBODIES
Antisperm antibodies have been well documented in the scientific literature as having the potential to cause impairment of fertility in humans. Sperm antibodies are detectable in either the male or female partner in approximately 10% of infertile couples. While these antibodies may be present, they may not be ultimately implicated as the cause of the infertility, making the search for antibodies in infertile couples both important and frustrating for the physician. Antibodies, in general, are biochemical "time-bombs" that develop in the immune systems of all normal human beings. They are there to protect us from foreign "invaders" (viruses, bacteria, foreign objects, etc.) that would otherwise have the potential to attack and harm vital parts of the body. A newborn infant is supplied with a temporary supply of vital antibodies from the mother. This supply may be initially be replenished and transmitted from breast milk from the mother. Ultimately, antibodies to harmful outsiders develop slowly and reliably over time as a growing human is exposed to more and more "coughs, clods and flu's" from the outside world. Vaccines are a way to trick the body into producing long term protective antibodies without the body having to first suffer the disease. Antibody protection can, on occasion, "short circuit". In these instances, the abnormal function of the antibodies can lead to a variety of diseases. Some common examles are certain forms of severe arthritis, lupus, diabetes, and in reproduction, premature menopause (ovarian failure) and antisperm antibodies. What happens in many immunologic disorders is the immune system that is normally ONLY supposed to make antibodies to protect from harmful threats begins to see "normal" tissue as a threat. In the case of arthritis, the immune system mistakenly decides that a person's bone joints have become a threat and begins to attack the joints. This persistent immune attack leads to an eventual painful destruction of the involved joints. In the case of antisperm antibodies, either the man begins to see his own sperm as a foreign "threat" or his female partner, whose immune system is supposed to tolerate sperm as non-threatening, begins to lose this tolerance and produces a destructive antibody that may damage the sperm and make it incapable of performing it's egg penetration and fertilization duties. Antisperm antibody testing is complex, as at least three different antibodies can have a damaging effect on sperm. Each of these antibodies must be specifically looked for in the investigation of the male and female. A new test, due for release to laboratories in early 2001 is able to determine biochemically if sperm have been damaged by any cause within the male reporiductive tract, making them incapable of fertilizing the egg. This new assay promises to make our ability to assess sperm function much more accurate. Initial use of this investigation assay has shown it to be nearly 100% accurate in determining is a sperm can fertilize an egg without help, either naturally or with in vitro fertilization, of if intervention in the fertility laboratory with ICSI will be required.
The Fertility Institutes have Board Certified, Male Reproductive MEDICAL (Urologist/Andrologist) AND LABORATORY (Embryologist/Andrologist) Specialists Available At Each Location, Including MEXICO. We provide all advanced male reproductive semen and sperm testing in-house.
Semen Analysis; More General
Information
Semen Analysis; Detailed Information
on "Advanced and Research Sperm Testing"
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