To achieve your goal of pregnancy – and avoid unnecessary treatments, costs, and risks – you need to be properly diagnosed. A physical evaluation and laboratory testing are key elements in achieving an accurate diagnosis.
For more information about procedures and costs, schedule a personal consultation with one of our male fertility specialists by calling (713) 798-4001 or emailing urology@bcm.edu.
What is involved in the evaluation of the male patient?
History
A thorough history will review the general health of the patient, duration of the infertility problem, sexual habits, previous pregnancies, and earlier treatment, as well as the history of illnesses such as post-pubertal mumps and testicular torsion.
Physical Examination
The physical examination will focus on the penis and scrotal contents, testicular size and consistency, presence, or absence of the vas deferens, and swelling or tenderness of the epididymides. The physician will examine for the presence of enlarged veins around the testicle (varicoceles) and conduct a prostate examination.
Routine Laboratory Testing
Laboratory testing will include semen analysis and determination of serum hormone levels of specific hormones, including FSH, LH, testosterone, and prolactin. Abnormalities may be a sign of a primary hormone problem in the hypothalamus, pituitary, or testis.
The Special Procedures Laboratory at Baylor Medicine provides appropriate testing and expert evaluation of male infertility laboratory test results. The offered evaluations – which require a prescription from your doctors – are as follows:
Evaluates the concentration and movement of ejaculated sperm. Specimens collected after 2-3 days of abstinence should be in a sterile container under clean conditions and evaluated within 1 hour of collection.
A test for samples that have sperm densities too low to count by routine semen analysis. Knowing if there is any sperm is useful before advanced procedures of sperm extraction and before considering IVF/ICSI.
Precisely measures normal sperm forms, quantitating abnormal heads/tails, and immature germ cells of 200+ sperm to determine the percentage of normally shaped sperm. Abnormally shaped sperm have difficulty penetrating the egg.
Evaluates sperm DNA for fragmentation, which is predictive of sperm function. Semen samples with normal parameters may still contain excessively fragmented DNA, which can lead to infertility.
determines if there might be an infection or inflammation in the semen. Studies show infertile men have higher white blood cell counts in their ejaculates than fertile men. Excess white cells may indicate infection and/or inflammation.
Enables identification of the known genetic causes of male infertility. Our utilization of the latest innovations in DNA sequencing technology examines a vastly larger number of genes and genomic regions than previously tested. Our test identifies missing regions of the Y-chromosomes that when abnormally absent lead to different patterns of male infertility.
Detects and analyzes patterns on the sperm head that are indicative of whether sperm can “capacitate”. Capacitation is a process sperm undergo in the female reproductive tract necessary for sperm to get through the outer wall of an egg and begin the fertilization process. The Cap-Score Test is the only test that tells you if your sperm can penetrate an egg.
Provides a deeper understanding of your sperm health by looking at sperm gene function. SpermQT is for any couple who is trying to conceive and wants to know more about their male partner’s sperm health. SpermQT can help identify if there is a male factor that could prevent a natural pregnancy.
A molecular cytogenetic technique that allows the identification of abnormal chromosome content (aneuploidy) of a male’s sperm that would help to explain poor fertilization and/or embryo loss (miscarriage).