Appeal of home testing of men's fertility is in its privacy

In a couple's efforts to get pregnant, the woman has her ovulation predictor kit, but what about the man? Men have fertility problems, too.

Researchers have come up with a home fertility kit for men that tests for sperm count. Score more than 20 million per milliliter and the test is positive; less than 20 million, thumbs-down.

It's the first such home screening kit approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Available only on the Internet for $36, the kit will be in stores by late spring.

Executives at Embryotech, the Massachusetts lab that created the test, say the kit could by used as a first step for couples investigating their fertility. That it can be done at home is a big plus, they say.
"We really think the privacy issue is going to be huge. Men are interesting animals, We don't think this could be our problem."
Eric Dorman, Embryotech president.

But Rodney Lyles, an infertility doctor in the Kansas City area, said the test's positive-negative result will tell couples little about male fertility. And it's not the kind of semen analysis useful to doctors, he said.

"What's really more important than the count is the motility of the sperm," Lyles said.

Motility is how doctors describe movement of the sperm. In the lab, they want to see the sperm actively moving across the slide.

But even count and motility are only part of the picture, Lyles said. For instance, a lab analysis determines the percentage of sperm in a sample that appears normal or abnormal.

"It's an overall picture," he said.

Couples with fertility problems should see a doctor, Lyles said. Generally couples under 35 years old should seek fertility help if they have tried to get pregnant for a year without success. Because fertility decreases with age, older couples should seek help after six months.

But what about couples in those first few months of trying? Would they draw some comfort in a positive home sperm test?

"It may make you feel a little better," said Lyles, who added that the screening would in no way rule out male fertility problems.

Dorman acknowledged that the test, which was six years in development, doesn't tell the whole story. But sperm count is important, he said, and the "20 million" level used in the test is the number recommended by the World Health Organization.

The company thinks women will want their partners to take the test, which is a matter of adding solution to a semen sample and comparing a color dot to a reference dot, much like a pregnancy test.

Dorman said the company knows the importance of the motility issue and wants to address it in future versions of the screening kit.

"That's technology we can add on down the road," he said.