Sterility or infertility could be caused
by a woman's body, a man's body, or both
in combination. If you are trying to
conceive, you should be having unprotected
sex during the fertile days of your
menstrual cycle. If you've been TTC for
more than 9 months without success you may
consider sterility as a possible cause and
you can seek medical help. First, the man
should be checked because medical
examinations for sterility in men are
simpler and easier than for women. Men
give a sperm sample (spermogram). A normal
spermogram requires:
1. Ejaculate received 4-5 days after
sexual abstinence and must contain 2-6.5
ml sperm;
2. A normal spermogram has more than 20
millions spermatozoids in 1ml of sperm;
3. A normal spermogram has more than 50%
living, moving spermatozoids with normal
morphology;
4. The number of leucocytes in a normal
spermogram is less than 1 million in 1 ml
sperm;
5. The fructose levels of a normal
spermogram is more than 13 µmol/ml sperm,
and
6. MAR-test is negative.
A normal spermogram is not a guarantee for
good fertilization ability... so
functional sperm-analyses are also
performed to test for fertility.
Functional tests reveal the
spermatozoids’ ability to surviving in
seminal plasma, to penetrate the plasma,
stimulate and conceive.
Hormonal analyses (testosterone, FSH and
LH), chromosome analyses and testicular
biopsy are done later if necessary.
If everything is OK with your partner,
then it would be your turn. Medical
examinations for sterility in women are
more complicated and more difficult than
for men. The task of these examinations is
to examine the function of the axis
hypothalamus-pituitary gland-ovaries and
the anatomy of the reproductive organs.
They include:
1. A vaginal examination with a
colposcopy, Pap-test and microbiological
examinations for STDs;
2. Hormonal analyses (estrogen,
progesterone, FSH. LH, prolactin,
thyroxin, testosterone, DHEA);
3. Ultrasound-scan;
4. HSG (X-ray contrast method for
revealing the passage trough the uterus
and oviducts);
5. Hysteroscopy and laparoscopy (performed
later if necessary).
You can consult your gynecologist for a
referral to a fertility specialist in your
area.
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