Fertility

Fertility

Fertility is the ability to procreate, to be able to fertilize for men, and to be fertilized and carry on pregnancy for women.

An essential condition for fertilization is for males to have a good quality of seminal fluid, and for women to have a good functioning of the ovaries and an adequate anatomical structure of the uterus.

Fertilization in fact occurs when the spermatozoon (present in the seminal fluid) manages to penetrate inside the egg (produced by the ovaries).

The evaluation of fertility is a medical procedure, as it is done through laboratory tests (blood, urine, seminal fluid) and instrumental tests (ultrasound, endoscopic tests, magnetic resonance)

WHEN SHOULD FERTILITY BE ASSESSED?

In the case of a heterosexual couple who intends to procreate, after a year of free sexual intercourse (without the use of contraceptive methods) we speak of couple infertility if the woman does not become pregnant or fails to carry on with the pregnancy.

In this case it is advisable to investigate, first of all contacting your family doctor, who will prescribe first-level examinations, aimed at discovering the most frequent causes of infertility and subsequently send, for further investigations and the appropriate therapies to the appropriate specialists: andrologist, urologist, gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist / psychiatrist.

Direct recourse to assisted fertilization centers, without first having made a first level assessment, can channel the couple along a tortuous and difficult path, which does not always lead to the desired goal.

Indeed, assisted fertilization centers aim to artificially induce fertility, without investigating and resolving any solvable causes.

The typical example is the heterosexual couple, in which the male is infertile due to chronic prostatitis; in these cases the assisted fertilization center is concerned only with using those few spermatozoa produced to fertilize the partner’s egg in the laboratory.

In this case the couple with assisted fertilization will be able to have a child, but he will remain with chronic prostatitis untreated, and the problem will recur if they wish to have another child.