[Flagellar anomalies in routine spermatozoa cytograms]

In routine semen morphological analysis, flagellar abnormalities are often neglected. Four flagellar anomalies (absent, short, coiled and duplicated) are included in the French usual classification proposed by G. David et al. The present paper describes two new flagellar anomalies (thick and irregular) which are present in about 5% of spermatozoa in subfertile patients. These anomalies should be included in the morphological classification: first, chances of pregnancy are only correlated with precise morphological analysis. Furthermore, some infertile patients have severe asthenospermia due to flagellar anomalies which can be easily detected in routine semen analysis using this flagellar anomaly classification.