Hi
my husband just had an uptodate sperm analysis ready for bein re referred now I have lost the weight should be able to receive treatment
what do you think of the following results
6.25ml
ph 8.2
40% rapid progression
29% slow or sluggish progression
6% non progressive
25% Immotile
20.6million/ml
morphology 4%
Thanks on adavance
These results are not bad, but there are some potential areas of concern. The ph is mildly elevated, and that can be a sign of an prostate infection. That can be easily fixed with antibiotics.
The count is technically normal, but a little on the low side. While 20 million/ml is considered sufficient to get a woman pregnant, in general you need the count to be closer to 60 million/ml for normal fertility. Some men have sperm counts of up to 150 million/ml so that gives you an idea of where 20 million falls in the scheme of things. On the positive side, your hubby has a nice high sperm volume which makes up for the lower sperm concentration somewhat.
The morphology is at 4%, which could be a problem. This factor is somewhat controversial. The morphology is a measure of how many of your hubby's sperm are normally shaped. If the lab based this on the Kruger scale, then this is considered to be barely normal. This percentage was just recently lowered as previously the minimum for normal fertility was 15%. It's unclear how morphology affects fertility, but it's accepted that abnormally shaped sperm often have problems swimming in a straight line to be able to reach the egg or have defects in their heads which make it difficult for them to fertilize the egg. Your hubby's sperm motility is actually quite good, so it might be a fertilization problem.
If you've been having problems getting pregnant and there's been no other cause found, then I think it may be worth it for your hubby to see a reproductive urologist. Male fertility problems are often an easy fix. The urologist can prescribe antibiotics if there is an infection and often recommend supplements which can increase the count and improve the morphology. He might even want to start off on a male fertility supplement before seeing the urologist to get a jump start. Supplements can only help and they're much cheaper than IUI and IVF, so there's no downside to starting them.
In the meantime, I'd suggest you do your own research. RE's really don't specialize in male fertility problems and are really bad at identifying them. I spent a whole year with an RE trying to get pregnant before realizing that my RE had not done a good job in assessing the quality of my hubby's sperm. I got a bfp immediately after he started taking supplements.
