Causes for infertility
A lot of different factors influence the chances of getting a pregnancy. We will try to list some of the more common factor in the following:
In the Woman:
- Age. The age of the woman has a serious impact of egg quality and is basically the most important factor and problem for treatment in the modern world. The woman of 18 has the double chance as a woman of 36 – who again has in average the double chance of a woman aged 39.
- Tubal factors. Previous infections or diseases may cause malfunction of the fallopian Tubes. However, it is not possible to test for functional capacity of the Fallopian tubes - only to test for patency of the passage in the Fallopian tubes, which is not the same. If a permanent damage has caused the Fallopian tube to dilate after closure, it is generally recommended to remove the tubes before treatment with IVF.
- Egg factors other than age. PCOS and endometriosis are both factors influencing the egg quality, and if such a problem is present it is more likely that the woman may experience need for fertility treatment.
- Other causes. Several other factors may influence fecundity but it is beyond the scope of this web site to go into details about that here.
In the man:
Low sperm quality. It is difficult to define sperm quality but two factors may be mentioned here:
- In a general test > 40 million spermatozoa/ ml is considered related to normal male fertility. If further tested the only generally most reliable test is to count the number of full motile spermatozoa after purification by centrifugation gradient.
- A good sperm quality here is more than 15 million sperms after purification.
- Less than 5 million ICSI is most likely the choice of treatment.
