Evaluation of the infertile male: Is conventional semen analysis relevant in the 21st Century?

Abstract

Background: Infertility is defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. The analysis of semen remains the key element in the evaluation of male reproductive potential in association with possible risk factors.Materials and Method: This is an observational cross-sectional study where seminal fluids from 105 Male subjects were analyzed in the Central Diagnostic Laboratory, Shree Krishna Hospital and Pramukh Swami Medical College, Karamsad during January 2019 to July 2020 using the World Health Organization (WHO) 2010 criteria for human semen characteristics. Results: The present study included subjects with a mean age of 30.9 years. Analysis divided them into oligospermia 22 cases [20.9%], normospermia 47 cases [44.7%] and azoospermia 6 cases [5.71%].Conclusions: Summarized from our study, a good number of males would yield a normal semen analysis, even though suffering from infertility. Hence, a normal report of semen analysis cannot guarantee the fertilization potential of sperm.