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View Full Version : Poor Morphology- Still a Candidate?



Almost Complete
October 4th, 2011, 09:47 AM
I hope to begin cycling in June, IVF with PGD and ICIS though I am just beginning to plan. I will be 31 my husband will be 32. I have 2 sons. We conceived one naturally after a few months and the other via IUI after a few months of unsuccessful attempts. I should add that I have never attempted to get pregnant without months of temp. taking, mucus observing and predictor strip data in advance. So... given this a few months was all I needed to seek the next step. I checked out great although I do not know exactly what for. At the time (eighteen months ago) I wasn't so concerned about the numbers as I never thought I would be here. I do know that I ovulated every month, my tubes were clear and that my ovaries had lots of (dots) at baseline ultrasound. My husband has great sperm quantity and mobility; however, morphology was poor. 12% normal versus the 30% desired. We got pregnant on our second IUI WITHOUT fertility medications. Is this a process worth pursuing given our history? I see that many couples without any fertility issues are unsuccessful.

Dr. Potter
October 7th, 2011, 08:22 PM
I hope to begin cycling in June, IVF with PGD and ICIS though I am just beginning to plan. I will be 31 my husband will be 32. I have 2 sons. We conceived one naturally after a few months and the other via IUI after a few months of unsuccessful attempts. I should add that I have never attempted to get pregnant without months of temp. taking, mucus observing and predictor strip data in advance. So... given this a few months was all I needed to seek the next step. I checked out great although I do not know exactly what for. At the time (eighteen months ago) I wasn't so concerned about the numbers as I never thought I would be here. I do know that I ovulated every month, my tubes were clear and that my ovaries had lots of (dots) at baseline ultrasound. My husband has great sperm quantity and mobility; however, morphology was poor. 12% normal versus the 30% desired. We got pregnant on our second IUI WITHOUT fertility medications. Is this a process worth pursuing given our history? I see that many couples without any fertility issues are unsuccessful.I would recommend that you have a strict morphology semen analysis first. The WHO analysis that you are referring to also does not likely deiscriminate between twitching sperm, sperm shaking in place and progressively motile sperm (counting all as 'motile'). If the strict morphology is > or = 5% and the progressive motility is > or = 50% with a normal volume and normal concentration, IUI is a reasonable option. If there are significant semen parameter abnormalities, we did not see many pregnancies using MicroSort/IUI.