Many infertile men have an increased proportion of genetically abnormal sperm.

Normally this is not an issue, because the number of unhealthy sperm is relatively small. It only fails to fertilise an egg. However, it becomes a problem in case of ICSI.

In the IVF with ICSI process, a tiny needle is used to inject a single sperm into the center of the egg. It means that the embryologist chooses sperm. The natural selection process is surpassed. That increases the risk of genetically abnormal sperm is injected into an egg.

Moreover, this not only increases the risk of ICSI failure, but as well the risk of transmitting diseases such as Klinefelter’s syndrome, Down’s syndrome, congenital heart defects, etc.

There are no current Western Medicine treatments for poor sperm quality or genetically abnormal sperm. So scientists from The University of Kent looked if Chinese medicine can help.

They conducted research on six men who had very high levels of chromosome abnormalities in their sperm. After a course of traditional Chinese medicine each of the six men participating in the study showed a significant reduction in the proportion of sperm genetic abnormalities.

This research offers promise to male infertility patients. However, more research is needed to investigate further how acupuncture and Chinese medicine can support male fertility.