Necrospermia Explained

Necrospermia (or necrozoospermia) is a condition in which there is a low percentage of live and a very high percentage of immotile spermatozoa in semen.^[1]

Necrospermia is usually confused with asthenozoospermia, which is the inability of the sperm to move even when alive. To check for necrospermia, samples with a high percentage of immobile sperm are stained to check for vitality. If they are dead sperm they will be stained, as the membrane is broken and the dye enters indiscriminately. Necrozoospermia is a rare condition with a reported prevalence of 0.2–0.48% in infertile subjects.^[2]

Treatment in complementary and alternative medicine

It has been claimed that necrospermia can be successfully treated in Ayurveda. A single case report to that effect has been published.^[3]

Further reading

• Book: Lecomte . Pierre J. . Barthelemy . Claire . Nduwayo . Leonard . Hamamah . Samir . Male Sterility and Motility Disorders . Necrospermia: Etiology and Management . Springer New York . New York, NY . 1999 . 978-1-4612-7177-2 . 10.1007/978-1-4612-1522-6_6 . none.
• Dumont . A. . Barbotin . A.-L. . Lefebvre-Khalil . V. . Mitchell . V. . Rigot . J.-M. . Boitrelle . F. . Robin . G. . La necrozoospermie : du diagnostic étiologique a la prise en charge thérapeutique . Gynécologie Obstétrique Fertilité & Sénologie  . Elsevier BV . 45 . 4 . 2017 . 2468-7189 . 10.1016/j.gofs.2017.01.010 . 238–248 . 28697346 . fr . none.

Notes and References

1. World Health Organization (WHO) Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen, 5th Edition, 2010
2. Lecomte PJ, Barthelemy C., Nduwayo L., Hamamah S. (1999) Necrospermia: Etiology and treatment. In: Hamamah S., Olivennes F., Mieusset R., Frydman R. (eds) Male Sterility and Motility Disorders. Serono Symposia USA. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1522-6_6
3. Doddamani SH, Shubhashree MN, Giri SK, Naik R, Bharali BK. Ayurvedic management of necrozoospermia - A case report . AYU. 40 . 1 . 44–47. January–March 2019 . 10.4103/ayu.AYU_120_15 . 31831968 . 6891995 . free .