Images of Sperm Morphology | Understanding Male Fertility
Fixed and stained human sperm pictures.
Sperm morphology scoring tells us what percent of the sperm are shaped normally
Very low morphology scores are associated with male infertility problems
Most fertility clinics (including ours) use the “Kruger strict morphology” criteria
Using the strict criteria, a relatively low percentage of sperm will be considered to be normal
At lease 200 stained sperm are examined with very high magnification to determine if the heads, neck pieces and tails are normal
The WHO (World Health Organization) now defines normal morphology as having 4% or more normal forms
Due to variations in scoring criteria and the subjective nature of morphology grading, morphology scores can vary significantly between laboratories (on the same sperm specimen)
If the sperm count and the motility are normal, a moderately low morphology score might not be indicative of a male fertility problem
