Infertility assessment and diagnosis

According to the definition of the World Health Organization, infertility refers to "failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse".

8-12% of couples of reproductive age around the world suffer from infertility. Likewise, fertility also declines with age.

While there are many reasons that contribute to infertility, some diseases, such as endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, anovulation disorder or menstrual irregularity could increase the chance of infertility. Psychological problems have been shown to contribute the problem, that some studies have shown that stress, anxiety, and depression are associated to infertility.

In addition, male factors include asthenospermia (weakness in sperm), oligospermia (low sperm count) or azoospermia (no sperm count), stress are contributing factors of infertility.

Hence, couples who fail to conceive naturally within 12 months are recommended to seek advice from medical specialists in order to address the problem of infertility.

A comprehensive fertility assessment includes couple's personal medical history and sexual life pattern. Both parties will then be arranged to undergo relevant medical examination, which include:

  1. Blood test for follicle stimulating hormone (FSH)
  2. Blood test for anti-mullerian hormone (AMH)
  3. Vaginal ultrasound in monitoring antral follicle counts (AFC)
  •  Semen analysis
    Seminal analysis covers the areas of sperm count, morphology and motility of the sperm. Before you save your sperm for analysis, we advise you to
  1. Avoid ejaculation for 2-3 days
  2. Avoid drinking alcohol for 2-5 days
  3. Avoid hormonal medication

Should abnormalities be found after the examination, the medical specialists will recommend appropriate plans to improve the success rate of pregnancy.