Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Andrology and Andrology and S.T.Ds

Approximately 10% of couples are estimated to seek assistance for infertility problems during their reproductive years. According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, one-third of couples{u2019} infertility is due to a male factor and another third should be attributed to female-related problems. In the remaining third of the couples, the cause of infertility remains unexplained or is related to a combination of male and female factors. The underlying conditions can be identified and treated only in a few cases and thus assisted reproductive technologies are often considered as the first-line treatment to achieve pregnancy in infertile couples. Assisted reproductive technology increases the pregnancy probability by a double mechanism; first, it facilitates the interaction between spermatozoa and oocytes, and second, it bypasses seminal abnormalities, such as a reduced number, motility or increased morphological defects of spermatozoa.Sperm morphology was suggested to play an important role in determining fertility and was proven to be closely related to fertilisation and pregnancy rates in the natural fertilisation process as well as in intrauterine insemination and in conventional in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments [Lo Monte et al.,2013]

Issued also as CD