Seminal volume in the investigation of male infertility

To determine the seminal volume among infertile males and the frequency distribution of hypospermic and hyperspermic patients in infertile males.

Cross-sectional observational study.

Department of Reproductive Physiology/Health, Public Health Laboratories Division, National Institute of Health, Islamabad, from 2002 to 2009.

Semen examinations of infertile male were carried out according to the standardized method of the World Health Organization. Seminal volume of 2-6 ml were considered normal, while volumes less than 2 ml and higher than 6 ml were considered hypospermic and hyperspermic respectively.

Out of 1521 patients, 355 were hypospermic (23.34%), 1046 were normospermic (68.78%) while 120 were hyperspermic (7.88%). In the hypospermic cases, 57 out of 355 (16.05%) had a volume of less than 1 ml. Of those 57 patients, 34 were found to be azoospermic, 12 were asthenozoospermic, one each were terato- and polyzoospermic, while 6 had normal counts. Among the hyperspermic patients (n=120), 3 were azoospermic, 24 were oligozoospermic and 19 cases (15.84%) had count within the normal range, while 1 patient was polyzoospermic. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed among azoospermic, oligoasthenozoospermic and teratozoospermic groups when comparing hypo and hyperspermic patients.

Seminal volume is an important parameter for assessment of infertility investigation and its abnormalities constitute a valuable index of problems with the male partner, even if the count and motility are well within the acceptable limits.