Fertility Treatment for Men with Spinal Cord Injuries
Male Infertility
Male infertility is found in ~40 % of couples trying to conceive naturally. There are many causes for male infertility. Poor seminal emission or inability to ejaculate (anejaculation) is one of them. There are many factors that may influence the ability of the male to ejaculate, including:
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• Psychological disorders
• Neurological conditions (eg. multiple sclerosis)
• Diabetes mellitus
• Complications after a pelvic surgery
• Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is the most common cause. SCI may also create difficulties in maintaining an erection.
• In recent years there are more than 10000 new spinal cord injuries per year in the USA. At least 30% of the cases are young healthy men in their reproductive years.
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Why do men with SCI have reduced fertility?
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Ejaculation is difficult
a. 90% of men with lesions above the thoracic (chest) vertebrae 11 (T11) are not able to ejaculate.
b. There are less men who cannot ejaculate when they have lower vetebral lesions below T11.
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Semen/sperm quality is reduced due to:
a. Lower motility of their sperm (the percentage that are moving).
b. Recurrent bladder, kidney, prostate, and testicular infections.
c. Increased scrotal temperature.
d. Infrequent ejaculation.
CReATe Fertility Centre, together with our colleagues at the Mount Sinai Hospital, in Toronto, Canada, have developed a comprehensive program to help men with spinal cord injury to be fathers.