Male fertility semen analysis, a blunt tool alone

Last week both myself and our consultant urologist Mr Kalsi gave a talk on male fertility to GPs from surgeries from across London and the South East.

Mr Kalsi and I were discussing male fertility in 2019 and the current inadequate treatment and investigation of Men.

In a time of increasing awareness of equality, I was disappointed to report to my colleagues that Men are still not adequately investigated or treated for issues of fertility. In the majority of cases it is the female partner that is focused on. This is even though half of all infertility is caused by the man.

Currently men are only offered a basic semen analysis which when considered alone is a blunt tool. We discussed methods of increasing the diagnostic weight of semen analysis by adding simple clinical information and urological assessment. Semen analysis then becomes a much greater diagnostic tool.

In fact, it is our experience that 75% of men found to have a normal semen analysis and assessed as normal by our urological team conceived naturally within 4 months of their appointment.

Claire Mooney
Consultant Embryologist