At present, we consider that the quantity and mobility of spermatozoa are the fundamental parameters to be evaluated in a seminogram. Teratozoospermia refers to the alteration of the shape or morphology of the spermatozoa. The WHO considers it normal if the normal forms are at least 4% of the spermatozoa.
On many occasions, alterations in the seminogram are usually combined with alterations in the number, motility and morphology of the sperm.
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is successfully used for all types of spermatozoa alterations. In patients with teratozoospermia, sperm selection techniques such as the following can be used:
- ICSI
- intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
- PICSI
- ICSI physiological in which the mature spermatozoa are selected, discarding the immature ones.
- MACS
- Magnetic cell sorting, which allows to select healthy and optimal spermatozoa that did not initiate the process of apoptosis or programmed cell death.
The sperm that pass this strict selection process are those that have a greater capacity to fertilize the oocyte and generate an embryo of better quality, which can translate into a higher pregnancy rate. In other words, with sperm selection the in vitro fertilization procedure is optimized, not randomly allowing the selection of the spermatozoon.
