Learn About Sperm Mapping

Learn About Sperm Mapping Dr. Travis: What’s really shocking is the options now available for men because this is really cutting-edge stuff. Dr. Turek: Yes, I mean, this is a fast-moving and an exciting field. Dr. Travis: I want you to walk us to this demo that we have over here. Dr. Turek: Let me show you. So, this is the technique. It’s done under local anesthesia in the office and this represents a testicle. So, with a very fine needle approach, we’re going to insert a small, fine needle into the testicle and get a very small sample of tissue like this. And that sample in the needle would then be placed on a slide. After that, here’s the sample and that’s how large it is on the side. It will be smeared. And then, this sample would be examined for sperm. Now, let me show you what the map is. Where I number, each of these sites, so I would number each of these sites and I’d look at each of them for sperm. Some sites may have sperm and some sites may not have sperm. For instance, in site 7 there may be sperm but in other sites there may not. And in men like Bryan, there are pockets of sperm and this is the way you can find these pockets. And then you can direct sperm retrieval after that. Another thing is what kind of sperm actually comes from this technique –what do you get. So, if you look at the kind of released sperm that’s created naturally, it has a lot of purposeful motion and that’s what you normally would see and it’s very driven and knows what to do. But the sperm we’re getting from sperm retrieval from this technique is – On the left panel and it’s very immature, baby-like sperm that twitches and because it twitches and it’s immature, it needs a lot of help with technology to get couples like this pregnant. Dr. Travis: We always joked that the released sperm looked like Michael Phelps in a swimming pool. Dr. Turek: Exactly. Dr. Lisa: And they’re direct in the line. Dr. Travis: Has somewhere to go. Dr. Turek: It’s nothing like that. Dr. Travis: This is offering hope to certain men who otherwise would not have been able to procreate children. What men, in particular, can benefit from this? Dr. Turek: This is revolutionary. This is completely different than what’s been done before and it’s much less invasive and it’s great for men like Bryan who have genetic syndromes. It’s great for any infertile man who has no sperm count, who was told that adoption is the only option for them. So, there’s a whole world of men and this is a quite population of people who suffer in silence and it’s also good for cancer patients who are too young or too sick to be able to bank sperm before their cancer treatment hit and I can offer them opportunities for fatherhood that they never had before. Dr. Travis: So, it no longer has to stop at, you go give a sample, they don’t find sperm. There are other steps, there are other opportunities and I think you two are a testament to that.