Planning a pregnancy is an important moment in lifeeach pair. Naturally, during this period it is necessary to undergo some examinations, consult with your doctor and pass certain tests. Quite often, men are recommended to take sperm tests. Of course, the representatives of the stronger sex are interested in additional questions. What does spermogram show? How to prepare for testing? What deviations are possible and what to do in such cases? Answers to these questions will be interesting to many readers.
Indications for the test
Before considering the question of what spermogram shows, you should learn about the main indications for such testing.
- The study is prescribed during pregnancy planning.
- If, for one reason or another, within 1-2 years of active sexual life without protection, the couple cannot have a child, both partners are prescribed tests.
- The indications for spermograms are male infertility caused by hormonal disorders, infectious diseases, genital trauma, varicocele, and some other pathologies.
- Research is sometimes carried out during a routine examination, as well as to control the course and effectiveness of the treatment of a particular disease.
- Men need to pass the test in preparation for extracorporal fertilization of the egg
How to prepare for the study?
Для того чтобы анализ эякулята дал действительно accurate results, you need to prepare for the procedure. For example, 3-7 days before the procedure, you must stop sex. At least 3 weeks prior to testing, you must stop taking medicines and dietary supplements (if discontinuation of therapy is not possible, you must inform the doctor about all the drugs taken).
In no case should not visit the sauna orbath, take a hot bath on the eve of the analysis. It is also worth quitting smoking, drinking alcohol or drugs, sharply limit physical exertion. Naturally, after taking the samples, the patient can return to the usual way of life.
How is the testing done?
Sperm samples are obtained naturally inmasturbation time. Ideally, the fence should be carried out directly at the clinic. The ejaculate is collected in a special sterile cup, which must be sent to the laboratory as soon as possible. Sometimes men can perform the procedure at home. In some cases it is allowed to collect sperm from a condom. But it is worth remembering that the biomaterial needs to be delivered as soon as possible to the laboratory (within a few hours), otherwise the results of the analyzes will not be reliable.
What does spermogram show? Physical properties of sperm
There are many criteria by which ejaculate samples are evaluated. To begin with, the laboratory assistant carefully studies and records the physical properties:
- The amount of sperm. Normal volume of ejaculate is 2-5 ml (a decrease in this figure sometimes indicates inflammatory processes).
- What color should sperm be? White, with a very weak gray or yellow tint (discoloration may indicate purulent inflammation, lesions of the prostate).
- The pH (pH) of sperm is normally 7.2 (this is a neutral environment). A decrease in the formation of an acidic environment may indicate an inflammatory process in the testicles.
- Sperm viscosity and thinning is another importantindicator. If the sperm remains liquid for one hour after ejaculation, it is considered normal (only in a wet, liquid medium can free movement of spermatozoa).
Microscopic examination of sperm
Next, you need to evaluate other important parameters of the ejaculate, which is possible only with the help of optical devices:
- First you need to determine the amountsperm in the ejaculate. Normally, 1 ml of semen must contain at least 20 million germ cells. If this figure is lower, then this may well cause infertility (although this does not mean that the man is not capable of fertilization at all).
- One of the most important criteria is sperm motility, because in order to fertilize an egg, they must be able to move.
- Sometimes during the examination, the doctor findswhite blood cells in semen. Normally, 1 ml of ejaculate should contain no more than 1 million white blood cells. An increase in their number indicates the presence of an inflammatory process.
- The amount of mucus in the semen is also assessed (an excessive amount of mucous masses disrupts sperm motility and often indicates problems with the prostate gland).
- Normally, red blood cells in human semen are absent. Their presence may indicate a mass of pathologies, including the presence of a tumor.
Extended spermogram and its features
In some cases, to obtain the maximum amount of information, extensive research is carried out. In addition to the above criteria, in the laboratory is also studied:
- Sperm morphology (under a microscope, a specialist determines whether the shape and structure of sperm cells is normal; the number of abnormal germ cells should not exceed 50%).
- The viability of sperm is another important criterion. It is believed that for fertilization, the sperm must maintain mobility in its natural environment for at least one day.
- The presence in the samples of the so-called antispermantibodies. These are specific protein molecules that, for one reason or another, begin to be produced by the male immune system. Antibodies attack the shell of sperm, destroy the germ cells and lead to the development of infertility.
In what cases it is not necessary to take samples of sperm?
In order for the ejaculate analysis to be as informative as possible, the preparation rules described above must be followed. In addition, there are situations in which this study is not carried out:
- after taking medication, after antibiotic therapy;
- after drinking alcohol;
- at elevated body temperature;
- in acute infectious diseases, including colds;
- after massage of the prostate gland;
- in the period of exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Possible violations
Now you know about what spermogram shows. But during laboratory tests there may be some deviations:
- oligospermia - a condition that is characterized by a decrease in the number of spermatozoa;
- azoospermia - there are no sperm in the ejaculate;
- asthenozoospermia - in samples of sufficiently live sperm, but their mobility is sharply limited;
- tetradospermia - in the ejaculate there is a large number of sperm with the wrong structure;
- neurospermia - in studies, dead sperm were found in the samples.
