Best at-home male fertility test
Men may utilize an accurate and convenient test to determine
the fertility of their sperm, according to researchers.
Infertility affects 45 million couples globally, according to estimates.
The male partner is responsible for about 40% of these situations.
In the United States, one out of every eight couples is
unable to conceive, with male infertility accounting for a third of these
cases.
Infertility diagnosis is currently costly and can only be
performed in a clinic or hospital.
However, a team of researchers from Brigham and Women's
Hospital (BWH) in Boston, in conjunction with Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH), have developed a new, low-cost, and easy-to-use technique for
identifying male infertility.
The new device, which has yet to be named, is controlled by
a smartphone and may be used at home.
Researchers claim that the new technology evaluates and
analyses sperm quality using motility and sperm concentration parameters,
ultimately determining infertility with a 98 percent accuracy.
The research team that designed and tested the device was
led by Manoj Kanakasabapathy. Science Translational Medicine reported the
research findings.
How the
device driver works
The sperm analyser consists of an optical attachment that
links to a smartphone as well as a device that users can put a sample of their
sperm into.
A disposable microchip with a capillary tip is used in the
sperm sample device.
The software walks users through each step of the testing
procedure. The total sperm count is also measured using a weight microscale
that is wirelessly connected to the smartphone.
Hadi Shafiee, Ph.D., a co-author on the paper and a primary
investigator in BWH's Division of Engineering in Medicine and Renal Division of
Medicine, highlighted the team's motivation:
"We wanted to find a way to make male infertility
testing as easy and economical as home pregnancy tests," he explained.
"Men are required to deliver semen samples in these hospital rooms, a
situation that frequently causes them stress, embarrassment, pessimism, and
disillusionment. Clinical testing are now laboratory-based, time-consuming, and
subjective. This test is low-cost, quantitative, and extremely accurate, and it
takes less than five seconds to evaluate a video of an undiluted, unwashed
semen sample."
Accurate
user-friendly device driver
Kanakasabapathy and his team gathered and examined 350
clinical semen samples from the MGH Fertility Center to assess the device's
accuracy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines normal sperm
concentration as more than 15 million sperm per milliliter, and normal motility
as more than 40% ability to transport sperm.
According to the researchers, the device determined
infertility with 98 percent accuracy based on these parameters.
The researchers also wanted to see how easy the device was
to operate, so they had both trained and untrained people use it.
More than 100 sperm samples were properly classified as
viable or infertile by a total of ten users with no training.
Applications
of the new device driver
The new tool, according to the researchers, will benefit a
wide range of people.
Men who have had a vasectomy can use the home-based device
to track their sperm for up to six months after the procedure. Patients who
have had a vasectomy are currently needed to visit a urologist on a monthly
basis to ensure that the procedure was effective, but the new gadget may make
this unnecessary.
The novel device might potentially be utilized as a
point-of-care testing tool, meaning it could be used not only at the patient's
home, but also in the hospital or other settings.
Finally, the authors suggest that the gadget may be used to
test animal fertility.
Dr. John Petrozza, research co-author and head of the MGH
Fertility Center, adds, "Bringing point-of-care sperm testing to consumers
or health facilities with limited resources is a true game changer."
"More than 40% of infertile couples struggle to conceive due to sperm
abnormalities, and this advancement will enhance access to fertility
treatment." [...] We have truly succeeded in creating a product that will
benefit a large number of people."
The new device is still simply a prototype, but once the
researchers have completed additional testing, they will submit an application
to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval.
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