It is estimated that about 15% of the couples are infertile. It means they are unable to conceive a child despite having had unprotected sex frequently for a year or longer. However, infertility has historically been attributed to woman. Sometimes, infertility may be due to more than one factor, so it is very important that detailed investigations are done in both male and female partner. Just like women, men can also be infertile. Studies suggest that one out of every three cases of infertility is due to the problems related to male fertility. It might take a number of tests to single out the exact cause of infertility.
Symptoms of Male Infertility
Other than the inability to make your partner pregnant within a stated period of time or the inability to deliver a live-born infant, in majority of cases, infertility has no other outward symptoms.
It should be noted that the majority of men suffering from infertility do not notice significant symptoms other than the inability to conceive a child. Signs and symptoms that male infertility include:
- Problems with sexual function — for example, difficulty with ejaculation or small volumes of fluid ejaculated, reduced sexual desire or difficulty maintaining an erection (erectile dysfunction)
- Pain, swelling or a lump in the testicle area
- A lower-than-normal sperm count (fewer than 16 million sperm per milliliter of semen or a total sperm count of less than 39 million per ejaculate)
- Decreased facial or body hair or other signs of a chromosomal or hormonal abnormality
- Abnormal breast growth (gynecomastia)
Causes of Male Infertility
About half the time, the “male factor” contributes to infertility and about one third of the time it is the principal cause of infertility. Generally, the issue lies in the process of either making or moving the sperm. A man can suffer from low sperm count or abnormal sperm due to any of the following causes:
- Varicocele — an abnormal collection of bulging veins above the testicle; they’re the most common cause of correctable male infertility, accounting for 38% of cases
- Undescended testicle
- Infections in the testicle (orchitis), the prostate (prostatitis) or elsewhere in the body that causes a fever
- Chemotherapy for cancer
- Medicines such as anabolic steroids or anti-seizure medicines
- Genetic abnormalities
- Hormone problems
Treatment Options for Male Infertility
Various Treatment options are outlned below. The treatment offered may vary depending on the cause of male infertility –
- Intrauterine insemination (IUI): Direct injection of the sperm into the uterus is done during the time of ovulation. Generally, medicines are given to the woman first to increase the quantity of eggs she releases.
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): This is the most widely used procedure in cases with male infertility. This is a procedure that requires very high precision as a single sperm is injected through a tiny needle into an egg. Post fertilization, the egg is deposited in the uterus. This procedure is generally performed when the sperm counts are either abnormal or very low.
- PICSI: PICSI is an extension of Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection and stands for Physiological Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. It is one of the advanced method of selecting competent sperms . it involves choosing mature sperm which bind to hyaluronic acid. PICSI can lead to improved embryo quality and live birth rates as well as decreased miscarriage rates.
- IMSI: Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection is a variation of ICSI that uses a higher-powered microscope to select sperm. This allows the doctors to look at the sperm in finer detail (including the nucleus which contains the sperm’s genetic material). Some studies show that this technique can select better quality sperm and results in higher pregnancy rates and lower chances of miscarriage rates compared to conventional intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
Using a combination of assisted reproductive techniques for some months, there is a good chance of making an infertile male fertile.
