The need for more focus on male fertility investigations was outlined in a recent review by our partner urologist Mr Jonathan Ramsay. ‘Very few, if any, fertility units seek to investigate and to treat these men’, Mr Ramsay outlines. Men are told that their diagnosis will not change treatment; the inevitable is either IVF or ICSI. However, this not only leaves men unsatisfied, but by not treating male fertility problems, this limits the outcome of IVF and ICSI.

The fact is often male fertility diagnosis can be treated. Mr Ramsay has found that more men are now seeking treatment before undergoing IVF or ICSI.

‘It is now timely’, Mr Ramsay says ‘to treat men as equal partners, in terms of investigation and treatment’.

We recommend that men get both a semen analysis and SpermComet test to have the full picture on their fertility. This allows urologists and fertility experts to treat men before couples undergo any fertility treatment.

BMJ 2016;355:i5735