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Risk Factors of Male Infertility

Many factors, both environmental and biological, can be risk factors for male infertility. Physiological conditions, lifestyle factors and some diseases can cause infertility in men. Some causes are temporary and can be reversed and treated; others are permanent.

Some risk factors for male infertility include:

• Age - Studies show that men older than 35 may begin a gradual decline in fertility.

• Drugs - Drug abuse causes a drop in fertility.

• Smoking - Studies show that when men quit smoking tobacco their fertility improves.

• Alcohol - Heavy alcohol use can cause a drop in testosterone levels, can cause erectile dysfunction, decrease sperm production and affect fertility.

• Weight - Being extremely overweight or underweight can cause a drop in sperm count, resulting in infertility.

• Pollution, Radiation and Exposure to Toxins - An exposure to heavy metals, industrial chemicals, radioactivity and other dangerous toxins can cause infertility.

• Disease - Men with diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, sexually transmitted disease and other diseases may suffer infertility.

Conventional Treatments of Male Infertility

The conventional medical treatments for male infertility include drug therapy as well as surgery. However if the person is facing a problem of low sperm count or lack of sperm count in his semen then he is treated with artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization. Sometimes treatments like gamete intra-fallopian or intrauterine insemination is done to make the partner pregnant.

Treatment of male infertility is difficult and sometimes frustrating. Immediate results are hard to produce and persistence with therapy is required.

The following modalities of treatment are generally employed.

1. Medical treatment - This consists of the administration of certain drugs to improve seminal quality. Clomiphene citrate, mesterolone, tamoxifen, gonadotropin injections, antibiotics, steroids etc. are commonly used.

2. Surgical treatment - Microsurgery in progressObstructions in the sperm conduction pathway, varicoceles, undescended testes etc. can be treated by operation.  Modern microsurgical techniques are of great help. Even patients who have undergone a vasectomy in the past can have their vasectomy reversed and the tubes recanalised successfully using microsurgery.

3. Assisted reproduction - In many cases, neither medicines nor operations are of help. In such cases, an attempt is made in the reproductive laboratory to improve semen quality and facilitate the penetration of the sperm into the ovum. This includes sperm washing/capacitation, intra-uterine insemination (IUI), gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT), in vitro fertilisation (IVF), and micro-manipulation (ICSI).

Despite the availability of so many treatment modalities, some patients remain incurable and no treatment, cheap or expensive, can improve their fertility prospects. One then has no alternative but to recommend an AID (donor insemination) or adoption.

Patients Medical’s Treatment of Male Infertility

At Patientsmedical male infertility is treatable; we try to understand the exact nature of the problem, whereby tests are done in order to make a correct diagnosis after which our expert team of holistic healers will prescribe the mode of treatment best suited for you.

The first test in the evaluation of the infertile male is the semen analysis. This test is inexpensive, easy to perform and gives valuable information.

• A perfectly normal semen analysis report generally precludes a significant male factor component and investigation and treatment should be more appropriately targeted at the wife. In fact, in many countries, the first test in the evaluation of an infertile couple is the semen analysis. This is generally performed before any tests are conducted on the wife.

• Often, in the case of male infertility, the semen analysis is abnormal. Either the count is low (oligospermia) or sperms are altogether absent in the ejaculate (azoospermia).

• Sometimes, sperm motility is seriously affected (asthenospermia) and sometimes the sperms are totally immobile or dead (necrospermia). There are many other anomalies that one may find on semen analysis.

When one finds anomalies in the semen analysis, the next step is to try and find a cause for it. To do this, one must perform additional investigations. Some of the other tests that may need to be performed are a semen culture, anti-sperm antibody estimation, scrotal ultrasound, hormonal assays, karyotyping, vasography etc.

 When a holistic approach is taken in the evaluation of the case at hand in conjunction with a systemic approach to evaluation and functional diagnosis, these subtle etiologies become evident and can be addressed appropriately with botanical and nutritional medicine.

Most importantly, our holistic practitioners review the case as a totality, not simply a reproductive issue. Infertility is much more than just a female- and male-reproductive systems issue; it’s a whole-health concern.

Fertility challenges should be seen as an opportunity for couples to engage in an active naturopathic treatment plan to improve their overall health, allowing their bodies to produce vital, healthy DNA for reproduction. It is often overlooked that when the DNA of the sperm and ova combine at conception, the health of the child has been genetically determined at this point in time.

Couples should be encouraged to participate in a period of preconception care, in which their overall health can be improved with the use of herbs, nutrition, and dietary and lifestyle modifications. This way, not only will they improve their chances of natural conception, but they also will be more likely to have a healthy, complication-free pregnancy and a healthy child.

We are located at: Patients Medical PC, 800 Second Avenue, Suite 900 (Between 42nd & 43rd Street), Manhattan, New York, NY 10017.