Infertility in Men - Treatment

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Highlights	Diagnosis	Resources
Introduction	Treatment	References
Causes	Assisted Reproductive Technologies	Resources
Risk Factors	Lifestyle Changes	References

The result gives a fair estimation of the number of sperm potentially capable of fertilization. It is superior to sperm washing because the live sperm will swim up to the culture media, leaving behind most of the debris, although some may float up into the medium. There is also some evidence that such sperm may have fewer genetic abnormalities than those retrieved through sperm washing. The strongest sperm, which are those at the top of the medium, can be collected for in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination. A good swim test yields about half a million very active sperm.

Freezing Sperm

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Sperm can be fresh or frozen in advance. Frozen sperm provide excellent results and can be used confidently for fertilization procedures. Fresh sperm, however, are preferred by some centers for cases when low sperm count is not caused by obstruction.

Intrauterine Insemination (Artificial Insemination)

Artificial insemination (AI) is the least complex of fertility procedures and is often tried first in uncomplicated cases of infertility. AI involves placing the sperm directly in the cervix (called intracervical insemination) or into the uterus (called intrauterine insemination, or IUI). IUI is the standard AI procedure.

Intrauterine insemination may be used under the following circumstances.

When the woman's cervical mucus is unreceptive.
When donor sperm are required.
If the man's sperm count is very low.
If there is decreased sperm motility.
When unexplained infertility exists in both partners.

The intrauterine insemination procedure is as follows:

A woman usually takes fertility drugs in advance.
The man must produce sperm at the time the woman is ovulating.
The sperm are subjected to certain so-called "washing" procedures. They are then inserted into the uterine cavity through a long, thin catheter.

The administration of fertility drugs and sperm retrieval is timed so that the process can coincide with time of ovulation.

If a woman fails to conceive after IUI, she may be a candidate for in vitro fertilization (IVF). [For more information on intrauterine insemination, see In-Depth Report #22: Infertility in women.]