Male Infertility Services
Andrology Services for Male Infertility
Our Tennessee IVF lab’s andrology services help fertility specialists across the Southeast diagnose and treat male infertility, helping men become fathers.
Combining specialized expertise with advanced technologies and techniques, Ovation Fertility™ Nashville’s skilled andrologists pinpoint the causes of male infertility and prepare sperm for use prior to IVF, IUI and sperm freezing.
Diagnosing male infertility
Male factor infertility can be related to a low quantity of living sperm, how the sperm move, whether the sperm are the right shape to swim and penetrate an egg, and whether antibodies are present that can compromise sperm performance.
Our Ovation Fertility Nashville andrology lab performs semen analysis to evaluate samples for:
- Volume of seminal fluid
- Sperm concentration – the amount of sperm present in the ejaculate
- Motility – the sperm’s ability to propel themselves
- Progression – the sperm’s ability to move in a straight direction
- Morphology – the percentage of abnormally shaped sperm
- Anti-sperm antibodies – the presence of which can prevent fertilization or sperm movement
Sperm preparation and freezing
The andrologists at our Tennessee IVF lab also play an important role in the treatment of male infertility, working closely with fertility specialists to optimize sperm for use in advanced assisted reproductive technology.
- IVF: Sperm preparation isolates the best possible population of sperm to either combine with retrieved eggs or inject directly into the eggs using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
- IUI: Sperm washing isolates the best-quality sperm and combines them with a nourishing fluid prior to IUI to optimize fertility.
Our IVF lab also prepares sperm for freezing and storage. This allows men with male factor infertility to collect enough healthy sperm for use in IVF or IUI procedures, and preserves the fertility of men who wish to delay parenthood due to factors such as cancer treatment or military deployment.
In cases of severe male factor infertility, our Tennessee IVF lab can perform vital stain testing to identify living, non-motile sperm. This method allows our andrologists to select sperm that are alive but not swimming, so that living sperm can be injected directly into an egg using ICSI.
Andrologists are valued members of the care team
The expert andrologists at our IVF lab are a valued extension of any fertility center’s team, providing advanced diagnostic and treatment services that help deliver the right care for every patient, right now.
To learn more about how our IVF lab helps our fertility specialists diagnose and treat male factor infertility, contact Ovation Fertility Nashville.