The evaluation of the infertile male has not significantly advanced for decades until recently. Although conventional semen analyses guide evaluations with quantitative measures, measures of sperm function have been lacking. Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a marker that was found to be needed on a sperm cell’s surface for a sperm cell to be able to fuse with an egg to result in fertilization. This was proven in a novel study which led the team at AFRM to collaborate with the basic scientists who published this work in Virginia to help realize the clinical relevance of this. Dr. Parviz Kavoussi collaborated with the PS Fertility laboratory in a clinical trial showing that men with varicoceles, abnormally dilated veins around the testicles that are diagnosed in 40% of infertile men, decrease the expression of PS on sperm cells. Just as importantly, the clinical trial demonstrated that repairing the varicoceles, with a minor but meticulous microsurgery that Dr. Kavoussi performs many of every week, can increase PS expression and the fertilizing capacity of sperm cells. Dr. Kavoussi presented this research at the Society of the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) lunch symposium at the American Urological Association (AUA) national meeting in Las Vegas. Dr. Kavoussi states, “This is truly groundbreaking to find a new test with a significant clinical significance in directing treatment for infertile men”.
