According to generally accepted norms, if pregnancy does not occur during a year with regular sexual activity, then the couple is diagnosed with infertility, and there is a need to begin examination and treatment of the spouses.
There are several types of infertility: female, male, combined, as well as unclear or idiopathic. In 40% of married couples, infertility is associated with the male factor. Male infertility is a decrease in the fertilizing ability of spermatozoa, which occurs for various reasons: testicular abnormalities, chromosomal abnormalities, toxic effects of polluted environment, exposure to high temperatures, trauma.
Over the past 20 years, there has been significant progress in the treatment of male infertility. Currently, the treatment of patients with various forms of pathospermia is based on the use of assisted reproductive technologies: intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), methods of introducing sperm into the cytoplasm of the egg (ICSI).
Intrauterine insemination is performed in cases when a woman is healthy and the fallopian tubes are passable, and a man’s sperm counts after treatment are sufficient to fertilize an egg after they are injected directly into the uterus.
An important stage in the treatment of infertility was the development and introduction into clinical practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF). This method is a solution to the problem of infertility, which was previously considered incurable. Now IVF is actively used in cases where there are problems with male fertility, as well as after unsuccessful attempts at insemination. This method consists of several steps:
• drug stimulation of follicle growth in women;
• aspiration of follicle contents and extraction of eggs from it;
• fertilization of the egg with previously obtained and prepared spermatozoa;
• transfer of embryos into the mother’s uterus 72 hours after fertilization;
• diagnosis of pregnancy 14 days after embryo transfer.
However, the IVF method has very limited possibilities in infertile couples whose problem is caused by the male factor. The inability of spermatozoa to independently penetrate into the egg leads to the impossibility of in vitro fertilization. That is why the ISIDA clinic uses an effective ICSI method for the treatment of male infertility – the introduction of spermatozoa into the egg. It allows you to bypass all the barriers that prevent a living sperm, regardless of the morphology and source of sperm, from penetrating into the egg. With this method, a high efficiency of pregnancy is achieved – 25-30%. The ICSI method makes it possible to significantly expand the possibilities of IVF, for example, in the treatment of an extremely severe form of male infertility, when only single spermatozoa can be detected in the ejaculate instead of the normal 10,000,000.
Sometimes pregnancy is possible even in cases when there are no spermatozoa in a man’s ejaculate at all – then healthy spermatozoa are obtained from the testicles or their appendages by puncture, injected into the egg and fertilized. This allows you to almost completely abandon the use of donor sperm.
Effective methods of male infertility treatment at the ISIDA clinic have allowed many couples to realize their cherished dream and experience the joy of parenthood!
