Home based male fertility tests

Infertility is a distressing problem to both partners and home based fertility tests come as a great relief to couples facing infertility issues. Home based tests are available for females as well as for males.

Principle of home based male fertility tests:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has established a value of 20 millions sperms per ml of semen as the cut of limit for males who may be at risk of infertility. The normal sperm counts according to WHO standards is between 20 million to 200 million sperms per ml. Below 20 million per ml is considered to as oligospermia which is an important cause of infertility. These guidelines also mention that there must be atleast 25% of rapidly progressive sperms in the semen.

Natural fertility is difficult if the semen does not have conform to the above standards. Home based fertility tests are based on the principle of identifying motile sperms in the semen sample.

How are home male fertility tests performed?

The semen sample is collected in the container provided in the test kit and it is allowed to stand for about half an hour.                                             

The other part of the kit that contains the reagents is placed on the top of the sample container.

In the above example, the blue button is pressed downwards.

Soon after the chamber is closed, the automatic kit timer starts for 30 minutes. A chemical solution is also released which acts similar to the cervical fluid in the female genital tract. The motile sperms swim through this fluid which gets picked up as a colored line.
                                                                          
                                                  
A single red colored band indicates reduced number of sperms and a specialist must be consulted for further management. A double red colored band indicates that there are atleast 20 million sperms which are motile in the semen sample.

Advantages of home based male fertility tests:

1. Are available over the counter
2. Can be done within the privacy of your home without facing embarrassment at the testing center
3. Easy and simple to perform
4. Easy to interpret the results
5. The kits available in the market are approved by FDA and the results can be shown to the specialist consulted

Precautions while interpreting home based male fertility tests:

1. Home fertility tests are only to be used as screening tests
2. Additional investigations are required to identify the reasons for low sperm counts. There are various reasons due to which sperm counts can be reduced. A decrease in sperm counts can be due to obstruction to the ejaculatory ducts which can be rectified by surgical methods. Infections are an important cause of decrease in sperm counts. This can be identified by performing microscopic analysis of the semen to quantify the number of pus cells or look for the presence of microorganisms. Infections can be treated with antibiotics and infertility cured. Another cause of reduced sperm counts is the presence of anti-sperm antibodies which destroy sperms. Identification of anti-sperm antibodies can be treated with steroids.
3. These tests are expensive and cost about 50 to 75 USD.
   

References:
http://www.homehealthtesting.com/male-infertility-tests.htm
http://www.fertell.com/
http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/malefertility.htm