Below normal morphology?

citygirl144 · 11-07-2009, 02:53 PM

Hi all,
I am a visitor from the queer parenting forum but had a sperm analysis question that i thought some folks here might be able to shed some light on. Our potential sperm donor got his semen tested and they found he had "below normal morphology." however, it isn't that far below (26% of 100% of 200 sperm were normal and they said the percentage they would have liked to see is 30% or higher). however, the lab told him they wouldnt worry since he had a very high volume of motile sperm (the motile count in million was 100). I've tried to do some internet research and it is all very confusing! how concerned should we be about this?
thanks so much and best of luck to everyone!

AmyKT · 11-07-2009, 05:56 PM

Hey there. It sounds like you donor's sperm was analyzed using World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. It does have 30% as a cut off, but with such high numbers of sperm, 26% doesn't sound bad at all.

However, when we began our infertility journey in earnest, an RE told us that the WHO guidelines for sperm analysis aren't as useful as the Kruger strict analysis, which has anything over 15% as good. But the analysis methods are quite different. My husband only had 5% normal forms by Kruger, and I have gotten pregnant twice by IUI with his sperm (out of 7 total tries) .

Also, remember that sperm quality can vary widely from sample to sample. Your donor's sperm will be analyzed for all but morphology at every IUI, and you'll probably see quite a difference (though hopefully you'll just have one). If you really want to use this donor, you shouldn't let mildly abnormal results dissuade you. It sounds like he is someone you know, and if you can get a fresh sample on the day of IUI instead of using frozen, your chances are even better.

Good luck!

citygirl144 · 11-08-2009, 01:21 AM

Thanks AmyKT! We weren't planning on doing IUI's - we were doing to do vaginal inseminations at home with a syringe...but maybe we should consider switching to IUIs with this new info....?

AmyKT · 11-08-2009, 12:42 PM

If you can swing it at all financially and logistically, I would definitely do IUI. There are so many barriers that sperm have to contend with in the vagina

The closer you can get them to the source, the better. They just don't ask for directions, yk?

But if you're feeling patient, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try a few times at home. If you're really fertile, slightly subfertile sperm can get the job done.

anne1140 · 11-08-2009, 06:21 PM

My DH has this problem. I would suggest, first of all, getting another semen analysis done to compare it to the first, and second of all, having it done with the Kruger Strict Criteria. You may need to have another doctor do that, I don't know. I do know that we had it done with the WHO criteria by our OBGYN, and everything seemed fine. When we transferred to an RE and did the semen analysis again, this time with Kruger, the results were vastly different. We've done it two more times since then, and they've shown the same problem.