Male Factor needs Proper Evaluation and Treatment

The male factor is often disregarded as being all about count and motility. However, this is just not true. Science and Reprodcutive Medicine have been looking at qualitative factors of the sperm for years, and some tests are now commercially availabe that can:

1) ...determine if IUI is a reasonable treatment or not. IUI does nothing except get sperm closer to where fertilization takes place in the fallopian tube. The sperm are taken about halfway there with IUI. This can give the couple a leg up in the chance of achieving a pregnancy, if there is no siginificant male factor. This means not only decent count and motility, but good quality as measured by DNA fragmentation testing. Even if count is stellar, if quality is bad then there will be lower (possibility zero) chance that IUI will do anything for the couple.

2) ...have an impact on trying to improve male factor BEFORE treatment, to try and make that treamtment more successful. Medications have been proven, in the right circumstances as determined by simple sperm and blood tests on the male, to improve count and quality---all making the chance of treatment success better. The key is proper evaluation and discussion PRIOR to any treament.

3) proper testing can also determine if long term sperm cryopreservation is a valuable tool for the couple. If it can be determined that the problem will likely worsen for the male, it is advantageous to freeze some sperm. That way, if in the future there are NO sperm at all due to worsening condition, the frozen sperm can be utilized.

So many times I see couples that have gone down the road of mutliple IUI cycles and later find out they had little to no chance of working in the first place. All this can be known ahead of time with simple tests and counseling by proper medical personnel. Bottom line: know your options.