Having a baby is getting harder nowadays. In particular, environmental factors and the increase in the age of motherhood appear as important difficulties in having a baby. As it is known, there is an increase in the frequency of infertility. Especially when we look at male infertility, number and movement disorders take the lead. However, one of the issues that has come to the fore recently is some disorders in the DNA of sperm. Genetically defective sperm both prevent pregnancy and can cause miscarriages.
We can measure the DNA damage of the sperm...
Until the recent past, male infertility examination It was evaluated only as sperm count-movement-morphology. Recently, techniques have emerged that reveal damage to the DNA of sperm. The work done is based on the principle of detecting DNA damage of a certain number of sperm cells using a special staining-marking technique. In general, genetic damage is also detected in those with number and movement disorders. However, even in people whose values are close to normal, sperm DNA may be damaged.
Why Are Sperm Genetics Deteriorated?
Damage may occur as a result of many reasons. Among them; Smoking, especially more than 10 cigarettes per day, swelling of the testicular veins, which we call varicocele, previous surgeries, long-term medication use, febrile illnesses in childhood, history of mumps, exposure to radiation or medication due to cancer can be counted as the main reasons. It is present in many men who have nothing in their history but have a lot of sperm genetic damage.
What Are the Consequences of Sperm Genetic Damage?
For a normal pregnancy, the sperm must reach the egg in the tube. It needs to be fertilized successfully. For this, the genetic structure carried by the sperm in the head must be healthy, that is, it must not contain any fractures. However, genetically defective sperm cannot fertilize the egg well, and even if they do, the resulting embryo will be unhealthy and miscarriages may occur. In short, sperm count and movement are normal, but it causes some important and annoying consequences such as inability to have children, recurrent pregnancy losses and poor embryo quality at the end of in vitro fertilization treatment.
First of all, one thing needs to be clarified; it is not right to check everyone. This test may be recommended for those with a history of recurrent pregnancy loss, recurrent in vitro fertilization failure, men with a history of illness-surgery-trauma, and men suffering from unexplained infertility. There is no need to worry about the test, this test can be done from a simple sperm analysis sample. However, it should be examined in experienced and reference laboratories. Otherwise, the results may be inconsistent.
What kind of treatments are given to people with genetic damage?
Unfortunately, there is no medicine to correct sperm genetic structure. Some basic precautions need to be taken. Paying attention to diet, quitting smoking and eating right are the most basic things to do. However, if no results are obtained, we have information that supplements called anti-oxidants for at least 2-3 months are beneficial. Another method can be recommended especially for people who are planning in vitro fertilization treatment. In this method, sperm is obtained from the testicles with a needle. The aim is to obtain genetically intact sperm from the place where they are produced, namely testicular tissue. In summary, 2-3 months of supplementation with anti-oxidants or the use of sperm taken from the testicles with an injection in in vitro fertilization treatment may be useful.
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