When a couple tries for natural pregnancy, Sperms need to be motile ( have movement ) to reach till the egg. Only then, the pregnancy can happen. It is becoming extremely common to see men with reduces sperm motility. As a Reproductive Medicine specialist, we need to first find out the reason for the lower or nil motility of sperms. This may include genetic causes, varicocele, infections and smoking among many other things. We also test for the hormonal parameters and give targeted therapy to improve the sperm motility. It is a known fact that this condition can reduce the IUI success as well as IVF success. It is common to see such couples going for more than 1 IVF cycle. Such issues may increase the IVF cost and hence should be tackled beforehand.

The semen sample can be frozen by vitrification which is the method of fast freezing and has very good chance of sperm survival. There are many conditions which might require semen freezing. Few examples are - if the husband is not able to collect the semen sample (erectile dysfunction) and if the husband is going to be out of the town during IUI or IVF treatment. In such cases, the frozen sample can be utilized for the procedure. One should always discuss about these with their IVF doctor or IVF expert if they are undergoing an IVF or in vitro fertilization cycle.

These are methods of surgical sperm retrieval. Both the procedures are done under anaesthesia and are usually very well tolerated by the patient. In PESA, the needle is put into the epidydimis, which is the storage area of the sperms and the fluid of the epidydimisis aspirated and checked under the microscope for the presence of sperms. In TESA, a needle is put into the testicle and the testicular tissue is aspirated and checked for the presence of sperms. If sperms are present, these can be utilized for ICSI

This is an advanced method of surgical sperm retrieval. This is typically done for the most difficult cases of non obstructive azoospermia. If done properly, this gives a very good chance of getting sperms in such men and to get their own genetic child. This type of surgery is a complex one, needs an experienced and very competent Embryologist to look for sperms. It is offered only at very advanced level or top IVF centers. We are one such top IVF center in Indore whose fertility specialists have the experience of Micro TESE  since 2012 and have achieved excellent success rates. We have published 2 research papers on this as well.

The sperm production is dependent on the blood hormone levels. Manipulating these blood hormone levels by giving correct medication is a very good ploy to increase the sperm production in men with low or nil sperm count. We might need to give more than one medications and sometimes injections to achieve success. We have achieved success in more than 1000 men with such male infertility treatment protocols.The IVF treatment cost can be kept low in many couples since we can get sperms for IVF cycle in the ejaculate itself and thus avoid the operation to get sperms. For this reason, each infertility clinic and infertility specialist should offer such treatment to their patients.