Silvia Azaña, embryologist at inviTRA, talks to us in this video about what fertility testing involves:
Initially, a medical history will be opened that the specialist will begin to complete with questions aimed at understanding the general health status of the patients, their personal and family history, as well as their habits. Similarly, the specialist will also inquire about issues such as the duration of infertility in the couple. Additionally, the specialist will request a series of tests and analyses.
Nonetheless, the fertility evaluation is different and varies between women and men. Besides a full gynecological check-up and cytology, the primary fertility evaluations that the specialist can request from the woman are:
A hormonal blood analysis in which the concentration of several hormones will be determined.
A transvaginal ultrasound in order to check the status of the ovaries, tubes, and uterus, in addition to counting the antral follicles. If you are interested in learning more about this test and what the antral follicle count is used for, I have included an article in the tags where you can find much more information about it.
A karyotype test is conducted to check for any numerical or structural abnormalities in the chromosomes that might be responsible for infertility issues.
A hysterosalpingography or hysterosonohysterosalpingography, which both allow the patency of the fallopian tubes to be carefully checked by X-ray or ultrasound, respectively.
A hysteroscopy, which would enable direct observation of any uterine abnormalities, like fibroids, to be identified.
An endometrial biopsy can be performed, from which it is possible to carry out and conduct various tests to thoroughly analyze the endometrial factor, including the endometrial receptivity test and examinations for microorganisms found in the uterus.However, a woman's fertility study generally does not require all these tests. It is most common for the study to be gradually completed with the tests recommended by the specialist, according to the medical history and the results of previous tests. You will be able to read more detailed information about fertility testing in women in the article I've included in the tags.
In the case of men, in addition to a thorough physical examination that may include an ultrasound scan of the male reproductive system to rule out any possible abnormalities, the main fertility tests are the seminogram, that is, a basic semen analysis in which important aspects such as the concentration, motility and morphology of the sperm are carefully evaluated. This examination can be supplemented with a motile sperm count, or MSC, performed after processing the semen sample in the laboratory, in order to obtain more detailed and useful information. I leave you a link to an article where you can read much more information about semen analysis and how a seminogram is performed.
Also a blood hormonal analysis, in which the determination of testosterone acquires relevance among other hormones.
A karyotype analysis that will help to assess if there are any abnormalities in chromosome number or structure leading to infertility.
A DNA fragmentation study of spermazoa in order to evaluate the integrity of its genetic material. You can discover much more regarding this test in the article I'm sharing in the tags.
A FISH test of sperm is conducted to assess whether the sperm have normal chromosome content. A study of Y chromosome microdeletions, which allows us to study if these microdeletions exist, particularly in males with severe oligospermia or azospermia.
A seminal culture used for detecting the presence of microorganisms found in semen. Or a testicular biopsy, which is a procedure that will allow us to evaluate whether there is sperm production in men with azoospermia.
Just as in the case of women, all of these fertility tests are not always strictly necessary. The male fertility study is gradually completed depending on the medical history and the results of the previous tests
