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The traditional perception that the causes of a couple’s failure to conceive were attributed to women exclusively, has led to a huge delay in investigating of men’s fertilization potential, as it started only 15-20 years ago.
Nowadys, even though knowledge on the causes relating to male infertility has sufficiently advanced, it is still not possible to clearly identify them. In a high percentage of cases, around 40%, the causes to the problem remain unclear. We thus refer to cases of “idiopathic infertility” or “unexplained infertility”.
Thorough analysis of the medical history, combined with complete clinical and laboratory examination, has led to the identification of general categories of factors causing male infertility, mainly related to a variety of conditions.
Approximately 2/3 of infertile men are unable to produce sufficient number of and/or functionally qualitative spermatozoa. Several factors may affect the process, such as:
Genetic factors | Chromosomal or genetic abnormalities |
Clinical factors | Cryptorchidism Varicocele Testicular torsion Inflammation Parotitis |
Medical factors | Medicines Radiation |
Environmental factors | High temperature Chemical substances Radiation |
Unidentified factors |
About 3 in 20 infertile men experience an inability to transport sperm from the testicles to the exit of the genital tract due to a obstruction, which may be related to:
The presence of anti-sperm antibodies reduces sperm motility as well as their ability to bind to the egg. This phenomenon occurs in around 1 out of 16 infertile men and may relate to:
The phenomenon of male infertility arises, less frequently, as a side effect of a condition associated with sexual dysfunction. This case concerns 1 out of 100 infertile men and relates to:
It is a rather rare case of male infertility, affecting around 1 in 100 infertile men. It is caused by an abnormality in the function of the hypothalamus-hypophysis-testicles axis, resulting in abnormal secretion of the hormones that regulate spermatogenesis. Therefore, the spermatozoa production process is disrupted. It mainly relates to:
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