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Male Infertility Test
A male infertility test is an absolute must for every man who is facing infertility problems as this is the only way to detect where the actual trouble lies. A semen analysis is often recommended to every male who visits an infertility clinic. In fact, it is a standard procedure for every couple who is facing difficulty while trying to conceive. This test has to be taken to rule out if the cause of infertility lies with the male or not.It is not possible for most men to know if they are fertile before marriage unless they have illegally fathered a child beforehand. Hence arises the need to carry out a male infertility test to detect if the cause of infertility lies with the man. In a routine male infertility test, the technologist will examine the semen to assess the sperm concentration conducts a count to determine if it falls above or below twenty million sperms cells per millimeter of the total fluid ejaculated. If the result is below 20 million sperm count, then the specialist will advise you to get the levels of the various hormones like testosterone, FSH, LH and prolactin evaluated. There are home based male infertility test packs for men who would like to perform this test within the comforts of their home. But if the result falls below twenty million sperm per millimeter, then it is best to get this test repeated in a laboratory as home test packs can show erroneous results. A semen analysis is an extremely inexpensive male infertility test that most people think of it to be a very simple and easy one to perform. But the simplicity can be misleading as it required skill and expertise to perform this analysis; in fact poorly trained technologists often mess up with this test and provide wrong results especially the standard in-laboratory sperm count. Hence it becomes very important to go to a reputed andrology laboratory where trained technicians will perform the sperm count as well as the remaining analysis. A normal sperm count falls above twenty million sperm per milliliter; a man is said to have a low count if it is less than this amount. A count of ten million sperm per milliliter is said to be very low and this condition is known as oligospermia. In some instances, the count will be zero sperms per milliliter of semen, a condition termed as azoospermia. The surprising fact is that in all these instances, the semen will appear absolutely normal and there is no way of finding out the sperm count unless you perform an analysis under the microscope. The second part of this male infertility test includes detecting the motility of the sperms. In fact it is the sperm quality that is more important than the count as only the fast and mobile ones are capable of swimming up to the egg and fertilizing it. Motility is usually graded from fast progressive, slow, no progressive to immotile sperms. Normal sperm mobility should be around 50% but if it falls below 20%, then the man can be considered to be infertile. The technicians also assess the morphology of the sperms during an analysis. Abnormal morphology of the sperms like double head, pin head, large head and absent tail is termed as teratozoospermia. This condition can also make it difficult for the sperm to effectively fertilize the egg and result in pregnancy. Presence of pus cells in the semen is suggestive of an infection and should be treated with antibiotics promptly. If the sperm analysis is normal except for the presence of these cells, then medications are the only thing required to restore normalcy and there is no question of infertility. The male infertility test extends beyond the semen analysis in some cases and includes testing for hormone levels and also scanning if any abnormality is detected with the penis or the testicles. But these situations are not common and a sperm analysis is most often sufficient to throw light on the problem. In addition to sperm count per milliliter of ejaculation fluid, the viscosity and pH of the fluid is also assessed by the laboratory technician. Though the sperm analysis is all that is usually necessary to detect the cause of infertility in men, the only confirmative way to say a man is fertile is by performing an in vitro fertilization. | |
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Please note that all advice on this website is just our opinion and it should not be considered medical fact.
For further reading on the subject of Infertility we absolutely recommend that you visit www.nlm.nih.gov