Women’s Health Texas offers male fertility testing

A man’s fertility is vital to the success of conception. If you are experiencing male infertility or wanting to proactively preserve your fertility, our fertility center offers several services to help, including natural infertility treatments, sperm testing and preservation options. Your infertility treatment plan may include one or more of these services depending on your fertility needs, as determined by you and your fertility doctor.

Anti-Sperm Antibody Testing

Testing that searches for special antibodies (proteins) that damage or kill sperm in blood, semen or vaginal fluids. This can measure how much a man’s body produces sperm antibodies when sperm come into contact with the immune system.

Semen Analysis

Test that measures the amount, shape and quality of male semen. The analysis includes measuring volume, liquefaction time, sperm count, morphology and motility, pH, white blood cell count and fructose levels.

Sperm Cryopreservation

The process of freezing sperm for future fertility treatments, including Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Cryopreservation is also a safe and effective means for preserving a man’s sperm before cancer or other medical treatment.
Testicular Sperm Aspiration (TESA) or Microepididymal Sperm Aspiration (MESA)

MESA is a technique for collecting sperm involving a surgical microscope and an incision in the scrotum to access the testicles. The surgery looks for sperm in the tubes within the epididymis, behind the testicles. This addresses conditions where sperm is being blocked from traveling from the testicle to ejaculate. These conditions can include a prior vasectomy, hernia repair with a mesh, cystic fibrosis and immotile cilia syndrome. The harvested epididymis tube samples are immediately examined for sperm that is usually considered better quality. The sperm can be taken and used immediately or frozen for a later time.

TESA is much like MESA, and in cases where no sperm is found, tissue is taken directly from the testicle and examined for sperm. Depending on the medical condition, several samples are taken from the testicle and immediately examined for sperm. The testicle is then repaired, and the sperm can be used immediately in fertilization or frozen for a later time.