The semen analysis is the cornerstone of the male infertility evaluation. Often, it is first—and only—test of a man’s fertility.
The semen analysis is a high complexity test that only a handful of labs even perform.
A semen analysis has several important parameters, or measurements. They include:
Volume
Concentration
Motility
Morphology
Another important measure is the total motile sperm count, which is simply the volume x the concentration x the percent of motile sperm.
Several decades ago, the World Health Organization—the WHO—determined that men with normal fertility have greater than 20% sperm with 50% motility, or better. Regarding morphology, or the shape of the sperm, WHO defined normal at least 30% normal shapes.
The basic semen analysis can detect if a man has a problem that is contributing to the couple’s infertility. However, a normal semen analysis does not rule out the presence of a male factor. Only a dedicated history and physical examination by a trained male fertility specialist, such as a urologist, can do that.
The above image is of a normal semen analysis. The concentration was approximately 40 million sperm per ml. The colored squiggly lines represent sperm motility. They come from a sophisticated automated semen analyzer called the SCA System. The SCA System uses advanced software technology combined with finest Olympus and Basler Optics that enable a semen analysis that can generate an enormous amount of useful data, more so than any other system.
Several fertility center across the country have this system. In NY—the entire state—only Dr Schoor has it.
If you are having problems getting pregnant, contact Richard A Schoor MD PC to schedule a consultation and a semen analysis on the SCA System.
