Scientists have brought new hope to fertility patients, after finding out how to identify the best sperm without destroying it in the process.

Fertility experts hailed the breakthrough as a “world first”.

Currently the most advanced methods used to explore male fertility- and establish why it is impaired - usually destroy the sperm under examination.

But the new method, developed by the University of Sheffield, uses low energy pulses, currently used in cancer diagnostics, which do not do such damage.

It means that when the best sperm is identified, it could be used immediately in IVF treatment, instead of simply providing clues towards future help.

Professor Martyn Paley, from the University’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, said: “The technique of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy has been previously used to examine the molecular composition of many cells and tissues in other diseases such as cancer, but it has never previously been used to examine live sperm.

“As such, these results are a world first.”