Assessing human sperm morphology: top models, underdogs or biometrics?

Area of Science:

• Reproductive biology
• Andrology
• Medical diagnostics

Background:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) manual for semen analysis recommends the strict method for assessing 'ideal' sperm morphology.
• This approach is primarily viewed as a fertility tool, despite controversy over the low percentage of 'ideal' sperm in fertile men.
• Historically, detailed categorization of abnormal sperm morphology was considered optional.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the importance of detailed abnormal sperm morphology assessment.
• To explore the complementary roles of traditional visual assessment and modern computer-based methods.
• To guide the selection of appropriate sperm morphology assessment methods based on research or clinical context.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature and WHO guidelines on sperm morphology assessment.
• Discussion of traditional visual assessment methods, including detailed categorization of anomalies.
• Introduction of computer-assisted methods combining videomicroscopy and computer vision for biometric analysis.

Main Results:

• Recent studies emphasize the value of detailed abnormal sperm morphology assessment for infertility diagnosis and prognosis.
• Computer-assisted approaches can assess the continuum of sperm biometrics, proving useful in clinical and research settings.
• Both visual and computer-based methods for sperm morphology analysis are complementary, not redundant.

Conclusions:

• Detailed assessment of abnormal sperm morphology is crucial for clinical and research applications beyond just fertility prediction.
• Computer-assisted sperm analysis offers advanced capabilities for biometric assessment.
• The optimal method for sperm morphology evaluation depends on the specific application, with each approach having unique strengths and limitations.