What is teratozoospermia, what are the causes and how to treat this infertility issue.
Teratozoospermia is a condition affecting the spermatozoa. Poorly formed, they lose a large part of their fertilizing capacity, which can have a significant impact on a desire for a child. How can this pathology be explained? What solutions are available
What is teratozoospermia, what are the causes and how to treat this infertility issue.
Teratozoospermia is a condition affecting the spermatozoa. Poorly formed, they lose a large part of their fertilizing capacity, which can have a significant impact on a desire for a child. How can this pathology be explained? What solutions are available
A spermatozoon consists of three parts. First, there is the head, which is composed of the acrosome, which allows it to perforate the wall of the ovum, and the nucleus, where the genetic information is located.
Then the part known as intermediate, where the mitochondria are, essential energy centres with the movements of the spermatozoon. And finally the flagellum, in other words the tail of the spermatozoon, which enables it to move. However, sometimes the spermatozoon is not quite formed as it should be.
This is called teratozoospermia.
What is teratozoospermia?
In teratozoospermia, 4% or less of the sperm in the ejaculate have a normal shape. The others all have a malformation that can be seen under the microscope. This may be a malformation of the head, neck, midpiece or flagellum. All these elements can be too big, too small, too long, too short, double, deformed.
If, for example, the malformation affects the head, the spermatozoon may not be able to make contact with the egg. If the defect affects the flagellum, the sperm may have difficulty moving. In other words, these abnormalities result in a significant decrease in fertilizing power, making it difficult for you to get pregnant if your partner is affected. If this teratozoospermia is severe, natural fertilization may become almost impossible, and medically assisted fertilization may be considered.
Teratozoospermia is a condition affecting the spermatozoa. Poorly formed, they lose a large part of their fertilizing capacity, which can have a significant impact on a desire for a child. How can this pathology be explained? What solutions are available to the couple?
Source: inviTRA
How is teratozoospermia diagnosed?
Your baby project does not materialize? Talk to your gynecologist as soon as possible! Among the tests prescribed as part of a male infertility check-up, he will ask your partner to perform a spermogram. The spermogram is a quantitative and qualitative study of ejaculated sperm. It verifies the number of spermatozoa emitted with each ejaculate, the overall volume of the sperm, the mobility of the spermatozoa and their shape. This will provide an initial indication of possible teratozoospermia.
Teratozoospermia: how can I get pregnant?
Although teratozoospermia prevents natural fertilization, it does not totally prevent fertilization. In fact, even a very small percentage of sperm with a normal shape can exist. Doctors select these spermatozoa, sometimes using a very high magnification device to obtain the most normal spermatozoa possible (in the case of IMSI, for intracytoplasmic insemination after morphological selection). These spermatozoa are then stimulated to be introduced into the uterus in the case of uterine insemination, or into the oocyte in the case of intracytoplasmic insemination (IVF, IMSI, ICSI).
Source: Aveya
The consequences of teratozoospermia for the mother-to-be
If your partner suffers from teratozoospermia, this will unfortunately not be without consequences for you! In fact, medically assisted reproduction requires that you undergo ovarian stimulation treatment with hormone injections. This allows, on the one hand, to increase the number of potentially fertilizable oocytes and, on the other hand, to control the moment of ovulation.
The aim of this control is to be able to introduce sperm directly into the uterus at the moment of ovulation or to collect these eggs from the ovaries for in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or intracytoplasmic sperm microinjection (ICSI). This will give you the best chance of conceiving a baby.
The term oligoasthenoteratospermia (or OATS) refers to all abnormalities detected during a spermogram. Among them, teratozoospermia, but not only. Oligospermia (when the number of spermatozoa is insufficient to fertilize an oocyte naturally) and asteriospermia (when the mobility of the spermatozoa is too low, thus reducing the fertilizing power) can also be detected during the examination.
These OATS can thus exist in different degrees. Weak, moderate or severe. Note that these abnormalities can be combined with each other. In the case of an abnormality of number, an abnormality of mobility but also an abnormality of morphology in the same spermatozoa, we speak of oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia.
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