Male Infertility Due to Sperm Problems
Infertility due to sperm problems can include issues related to the making of sperm and/or problems with the sperm's ability to reach the egg. Sperm production takes place in the testes and takes a total of two months.� Any illness or disruption of production at any time during this period will affect sperm. Factors that influence both the quality and quantity of sperm are:
- Alcohol use
- Drug use
- Medicines
- Radiation
- Chemotherapy
- Cigarette smoking
- Infections
- Age
- Excess heat
- Occupational or environmental exposure to chemicals and toxins
- Physical trauma
- Bicycling
- Malnutrition
- Disease
Varicocele is the most common affliction affecting fertility. It is an enlargement and twisting of the blood supply to the testes.� It is thought that nourishment, temperature, and volume of sperm are affected by this condition.� Both sperm production and viability of sperm are affected. Problems with sperm production:
- Hypogonadism is a lack of Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), a testosterone deficiency.
- Kallman's syndrome: lack of GnRH affects other reproductive hormones
- Pituitary gland secretion problems
- Pituitary gland damage
- Enuch's syndrome: lack of luetinizing hormone
- Lack of testes or lack of descent of testes from abdomen to scrotal sacs
- Sertoli cell-only syndrome:� the cells that make sperm are absent
Problems with sperm's ability to reach an egg:
- Thick seminal fluid
- Klinefelter syndrome is sperm with an extra X chromosome
- Retrograde ejaculation: ejaculate flows back into the male bladder because the bladder neck does not close
- Fragile, broken or damaged DNA in sperm
- Kartagener Syndrome: the swimming ability of the sperm is affected
- Obstructions in the male reproductive tract
- Low numbers of motile sperm
- Sperm that cannot bind with or penetrate the egg
- Cystic fibrosis: lack of vas deferens, the tube that carries sperm
- Auto-immune disorders in which antibodies bind with and disable sperm
There are a number of treatments for sperm problems that lead to male infertility, including drug therapies, hormonal therapies, assisted reproductive technologies, structural surgeries, sperm washing, and sperm retrieval. Drug and hormone therapies:
- Increase sperm production
- Treat hormonal dysfunction
- Cure infections
- Fight antibodies affecting sperm
Assisted reproductive technologies place sperm or fertilized eggs inside the woman.� The methods of obtaining sperm are:
- Sperm washing is the spinning of sperm in a centrifuge to concentrate volume and find the healthiest sperm.
- Sperm retrieval is done by biopsy, incision or by needle
- Electro ejaculation is used on men who are unable to ejaculate on their own.
If you have been affected by male infertility or other fertility issues, the skilled doctors at our New Jersey fertility clinic can help. At North Hudson IVF, we offer numerous therapeutic reproductive treatments, in vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), and other fertility treatments.