Male infertility is a health condition in a man that lowers the chances of his female partner getting pregnant. There are several causes for infertility in men and women. In over a 3rd of infertility cases, the problem is with the man. This is mostly caused by poor sperm production, sperm motility, and sperm viability or sperm delivery.

Causes of male infertility

There may be other specific medical causes for male infertility including:

testicular damage

ejaculation disorders

chromosomal or genetic causes

undescended testes

varicocele

hormonal problems

auto immune disorders (sperm antibodies)

infection

tumours

Lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption, stress and environmental factors can also play a part.Nearly 90% of male infertility is due to low sperm count and poor sperm quality, the rest of the cases are related to anatomical issues, hormonal imbalance, and genetic defects.

According to WHO, sperm count less than 15million sperm/milliliter semen is considered as low sperm count or oligospermia. In few cases, men who can produce sperm cannot ejaculate sperm because of an underlying medical condition called azoospermia

In low sperm count, sperms cannot reach the vas (tube that transport sperm) because of the less quantity whereas, in poor sperm quality, sperm cannot swim towards the egg. Thus, low sperm count and poor sperm quality hinders fertilization.

IVF technique ICSI (sperms are directly injected into the egg) is the most effective treatment for both the conditions, whereas in azoospermia (who cannot ejaculate sperms) the sperm retrieval is required, where the sperms are aspired directly from the testis, followed by ICSI.

Semen analysis is the common procedure to determine the male infertility factor. There are a number of Fertility treatment for men available which you can try in case of infertility. It helps to analyze sperm count, sperm shape and its motility (movement of sperm).

Female fertility declines with advancing age, whereas in men, the sperm quality deteriorates with age. The genetic composition integrity of sperm is crucial for the success of fertilization. Abnormality in the sperm genome can affect the success rate in IVF and also causes miscarriages.