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Male Infertility
Thousands of clinical compensation claims are initiated every year in the United Kingdom by medical negligence solicitors on behalf of people from all walks of life. A multitude of operations and procedures are executed successfully however a small percentage do go wrong, laying the grounds for medical negligence solicitors to take legal action in order to claim compensation. Both legal aid and the no win no fee scheme are available to pursue medical negligence compensation claims.
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About fifteen percent of people are infertile. Infertility means not being able to become pregnant after trying for at least a year. Male infertility is responsible for half the total cases of infertility. Male infertility is due to a low sperm count, immobile or misshapen sperm, choices in one's lifestyle and other factors. Men who have infertility can have chronic health problems that can impact one's ability to make sperm. In many cases, treatment is available.
The main symptom of male infertility is the inability of a couple to conceive a child. There aren't any obvious signs or symptoms. Other symptoms can include an inability to reach an orgasm through delayed ejaculation or an inability to maintain an erection. There can be a swelling, a lump or a pain in the testicular area. Diseased hairs in the groin or on the head can mean the patient has a chromosomal abnormality or hormonal abnormality as a cause of their infertility.
You should see a doctor if you cannot impregnate a woman after one year or if you have problems with ejaculation or erectile dysfunction. If you have pain or a lump in the testicular area, you should seek medical attention or if you know you have a low sperm count. If you have had surgery to the groin area, see a doctor to check your sperm count.
The ability to get a woman pregnant is complex. You need to produce healthy sperm that can fertilize an egg. At least one testicle must work. You need also to have a way to carry the sperm to the urethra. The vas deferens, for example, must be patent. There needs to be enough sperm in the semen to get to the egg and the sperm must be of normal morphology (size and shape).
The causes of male infertility include having a varicocele or swollen veins in the scrotum which artificially heats the sperm so they aren't functional. You can have infections with STDs like Chlamydia or gonorrhea so that you have an inflammation of the prostate-a problem in fertility. You can also have retrograde ejaculation which involves ejaculating into the bladder instead of to the outside. You can fail to ejaculate at all because of a spinal cord injury or other disease. You can make autoantibodies to sperm or have tumors that affect the male reproductive structures. Undescended testicles can be a problem regarding fertility. You can also have hormone imbalances with a low testosterone syndrome and sperm duct defects that block passage of sperm. You can have problems with chromosome defects that make fertilization of a healthy egg impossible. Celiac disease can create infertility problems. The use of chemotherapy, long term anabolic steroids or testosterone can adversely affect sperm production.
There can be environmental reasons behind male infertility. These include heat exposure, pesticide (organophosphate) exposure and heavy metal exposure. X-ray exposure or radiation exposure can lessen the sperm count for many years. If the dose is high enough, the sperm count can be reduced or absent permanently. Prolonged bicycling can reduce fertility levels because of pressure on the area behind the testicles that can numb the penis and can cause erectile dysfunction.
Certain other causes of male infertility include illegal drug use (mainly anabolic steroids, cocaine or marijuana), alcohol abuse, tobacco abuse, and emotional distress. Men over the age of 35 have a higher risk of infertility; men who have a vitamin deficiency or are overweight have a higher risk for having male infertility.
The diagnosis of male infertility involves taking a history and having a physical exam. A semen analysis can tell much about the ability of sperm to cause egg fertilization. Both the morphology and the sperm count itself are analyzed. Sometimes a scrotal ultrasound or a transrectal ultrasound can be done to look at the scrotum, the tubes and the prostate gland. Hormone testing can be done to see if there is enough testosterone in the system. A test of the urine after ejaculation will look for retrograde ejaculation. In some cases, a testicular biopsy is done to see if there are sperm in the testes. Anti-sperm antibody testing can be done to see if there is an autoimmune disease. Dye can be injected into the vas deferens to test for patency.
The treatment of male infertility can include the treatment of certain infections, surgery to correct a varicocele, treatment for erectile dysfunction, hormone replacement and, in some cases, concentrating the sperm and using intrauterine insemination.