ABSTRACT
Infertility is the inability of a couple to become pregnant after 1 year of frequent, unprotected intercourse.
Among couples with normal fertility parameters, 20–25% will typically conceive within 1 month, 75% within 6 months, and 90% within 1 year.
15% of US couples are infertile: 40% female factors, 20% male factors, 30% both male and female factors, and 10% untraceable.
Initial evaluation of male factor infertility includes history, physical exam, and semen analysis.
Further evaluation and treatment depends upon semen analysis results. Patients may have low volume or absent ejaculate, azoospermia, oligospermia, asthenospermia (abnormalities of sperm movement), sperm morphological defects, and/or combinations of these abnormalities.
Of infertile couples, 25–35% will conceive by intercourse alone without treatment.
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is an efficacious modality.
