Index
It is a condition in which a man has a low volume of ejaculation.
This male medical condition is characterized by the production of meager amounts or the volume of semen in the ejaculate.
It is easy to confuse hypospermia with oligospermia, almost a similar condition. However, oligospermia is more important for male fertility, while hypospermia includes other problems.
What are the causes of hypospermia?
Most men around the world wonder what the causes of hypospermia might be. One of the most common factors that cause hypospermia is an unhealthy lifestyle, leading to other health problems.
These include eating foods high in cholesterol and fast food regularly, alcohol, smoking, and obesity.
In addition, age is also another common factor that leads to hypospermia, although recent studies have shown that even middle-aged men are also at risk. Other essential causes of hypospermia include:
- Pathological conditions:
Hypospermia can be caused by many pathological conditions that include retrograde ejaculation, obstruction of the ejaculatory duct, or the congenital absence of vas deferens and seminal vesicles. Therefore, the state can be self-induced or congenital, depending on the cause.
Partial retrograde ejaculation: This condition causes the semen to go to the bladder after ejaculation, leading to a low volume of semen. The retrograde ejaculation could result from a deformity in the urethra, prostate surgery, or prostatic hypertrophy.
The condition may require surgical means to treat. However, if the surgical means do not work or are excluded, the doctor can propose other techniques.
Unilateral absence of seminal vesicles and vas deferens: The lack of vas deferens or seminal vesicles is due to a genetic cause.
Obstruction of the ejaculatory ducts is due to certain infections or inflammations in the ejaculatory ducts, such as varicocele or prostatitis.
This type of hypospermia is treated using the suggested pharmacotherapeutic methods that involve taking antibiotics or other pharmaceutical or herbal supplements to overcome the infection and improve secretion.
- Period of abstinence:
The problem of low semen volume can also be related to the period of abstinence. Therefore, examining the importance of semen after a brief period of abstinence, such as during a day, can reduce the amount of semen.
On the other hand, carrying out the analysis of the semen with a more extended period of abstinence can help correct the problem if the problem with the volume was due to a collection error.
- Damage or deterioration of the nerves:
The loss of nerve impulses in the penis due to damage to the sympathetic nerves can also cause hypospermia.
- Inappropriate sex hormones:
The production of insufficient amounts of sex hormones such as testosterone is another condition that can easily lead to a low volume of semen.
- Bladder neck surgery:
Bladder neck surgery is performed in patients with experience problems when urinating and can cause hypospermia.
What are the associated diseases?
The following are some of the diseases associated with the hypospermia condition:
- Oligozoospermia.
- Cryptozoospermia.
- Necrozoospermia.
- Asthenozoospermia.
- Azoospermia.
- Prostatitis.
What are the risk factors associated with hypospermia?
Some factors are associated with hypospermia and include the following:
- Certain infections
- Unhealthy lifestyle.
- Stress and other psychological problems.
- Testicles and trauma problems.
- Age (Studies have shown that semen volume decreases spontaneously between 22 to 80 years).
- Drug and alcohol abuse.
- Hormone imbalance
- Obstruction of the ejaculatory duct.
- Retrograde ejaculation.
What are the symptoms?
Unlike some diseases that do not have apparent symptoms, hypospermia has a visible sign.
Men with hypospermia generally produce a smaller volume of semen during ejaculation. A semen analysis showing less than 1.5ml of semen volume represents a precise diagnosis of hypospermia.
People who suffer from Hypopermia have ejaculations that are not good enough due to the low volume of semen and do not experience average sexual satisfaction after a sexual encounter.
This explains why hypospermia can cause psychological or confidence problems and should be treated well.
What is the impact of hypospermia on men’s fertility?
Hypospermia results from a condition in which the outflow of semen is blocked due to obstruction of the ejaculatory ducts or the flow of semen back to the bladder instead of flowing forward.
This leads to the ejaculation of low volumes of semen during intercourse. The ejaculation of low volumes of semen reduces the amount of sperm and, therefore, minimizes the chances of sperm reaching the female ovum.
This can lead to infertility since it is difficult for these men to cause a pregnancy naturally.
How is it diagnosed?
There are several ways to diagnose this condition according to the causes. Therefore, after consulting with your doctor, a doctor may recommend that a patient perform several tests to confirm that they suffer from hypospermia.
These tests will guide the doctor in suggesting the correct treatment method ideal for the patient. The following are some of the standard techniques applied by the physician to diagnose hypospermia.
- Patient’s medical history:
Studying the patient’s medical history helps the doctor to clearly understand if the condition is, in fact, hypospermia and the possible cause. This is because, as in the case of other diseases, hypospermia can be caused by the patient’s past medical conditions.
The doctor will ask about the patient’s period of abstinence, the methods used to collect the semen, and whether the collection was completed.
The doctor then asks the patient if they believe that the volume of semen collected is compared to that produced during sexual activity. This helps identify patients who have a low volume of semen during the sample collection and not during sexual activity.
The medical history should also verify the sexual function of the patients when asking about the erection, the ejaculation, the libido, and the orgasm.
This helps determine the psychogenic conditions that contribute to hypospermia. Therefore, a question that seeks to determine if the patient is reaching orgasm can be fundamental in determining these conditions.
The doctor should also be able to determine if the condition is due to a pathological condition. This involves identifying whether the state results from retrograde ejaculation or obstruction of the ejaculatory ducts.
A patient with a history of cloudy urine after ejaculation is a sign that the condition could be hypospermia due to retrograde ejaculation.
A complaint about the absence of ejaculation should raise a question about whether the patient has ever undergone prostate surgery or suffered from neurological or spinal diseases.
However, neurological dysfunction can be identified through other symptoms that include intestinal or bladder dysfunction and weakness of the leg.
Finally, patients with symptoms such as hermatospermia or pain during ejaculation and who had had prostate or previous infection could suffer from EDO-related hypospermia.
Checking the patient’s history can also help identify any symptoms of hypogonadism, which include decreased libido, low energy, weakness, and mood swings.
- Physical exams:
Then, the doctor asks the patient to perform some physical exams after reviewing the medical history.
This involves the evaluation of the external genitalia and the evaluation of the state of androgenization, including the palpation of the vas deferens, the neurological examination of the lower extremity, and the digital rectal examination.
After the physical examinations of all the essential parts of the male reproductive system, the doctor can identify the condition’s cause.
Some of the typical findings for physical exams include small testis volume, scrotal or inguinal scars, testicles with low mass, and varicocele. In addition, the doctor will identify low sperm count, absence of tubules, and palpable prostatic abnormalities.
- Semen Analysis:
This involves evaluating other parameters to analyze the semen, which could be essential to identify the possible underlying causes. If the results of the analysis of semen parameters show that it is expected, the development could be related to partial retrograde ejaculations or collection problems.
The results showing hypogonadism symptoms or partial obstruction of the ejaculatory duct are associated with oligospermia. Azoospermia conditions could suggest complete retrograde ejaculation, obstruction of the ejaculatory duct, or emission failure.
On the other hand, the absence of low pH or fructose may suggest a pathological disorder of the seminal vesicle and obstruction of the ejaculatory duct. Other conditions related to abnormal results in semen analysis include epididymal obstruction, varicocele, and testicular failure.
- Urine test after ejaculation:
The test is performed on patients to determine patients with retrograde ejaculation. This procedure involves asking a patient to give him his urine as a sample and then complete an everyday semen collection followed by a sperm analysis.
When analyzing the sperm sample, the urine takes 10 minutes to centrifuge at 300 g, and then it is suspended in 1 ml of saline.
This allows a total sperm count and determination of concentration. Finally, the attention and the sperm count are used to identify a patient with retrograde ejaculation.
What are the main methods of treatment for hypospermia?
The doctor can suggest any of the various treatment methods available to eliminate the causes of hypospermia. In most cases, the doctor may opt for simple therapy and other non-invasive treatment methods, although they may not work for the patient.
If all invasive methods do not work on the patient, the doctor may recommend surgery to eradicate the causes of hypospermia.
However, if the condition’s cause is associated with certain medications, the doctor may suggest that the patient stop taking the drug. The following are some of the standard treatment methods for hypospermia:
- Self-therapy:
Autotherapy is one of the most direct methods you can try, but it can only work if the hypospermia condition is mild or early.
The treatment procedure is applied during sexual intercourse and involves the stimulation of the rectal prostate. In addition, the patient is expected to maintain a healthy lifestyle as this could be useful in overcoming the underlying causes.
- Conventional medicine:
This is the most common and helpful treatment method for the hypospermia condition. There are two categories of traditional medicines used to treat this disease. These include pharmacotherapy and surgery.
Pharmacotherapy: This treatment method is suggested when the cause of hypospermia is due to infection or inflammation. However, treating the disease does not guarantee an immediate increase in the volume of semen produced.
Some of the joint supplements suggested for patients with hypospermia include volume pills, Prosolution pills, and Semenax, as it has been clinically shown to improve male sexual performance.
Surgery: Surgical treatment methods are suggested in case of obstruction of the ejaculatory ducts or retrograde ejaculation. In case of retrograde ejaculation, a surgical procedure can be performed to correct a problem with the bladder neck.
When it comes to treating conditions of male infertility and improving the quality of semen, the surgical procedure used is transurethral resection of the ejaculatory ducts.
This relatively invasive procedure has a high success rate in helping people cause natural pregnancies in approximately 20 percent of all cases.
However, the procedure has possible serious complications that include causing the ejaculatory ducts to open in the urethra and the reverse urine flow to the seminal vesicles.
- Assisted Reproduction:
Timed intrauterine insemination (IUI) is performed with the sperm retrieved by the catheter or post-orgasmic urine to help patients with retrograde ejaculation reproduce. Rectal electrostimulation can also be used to obtain semen.
The recommended fluid restriction minimizes the toxic effects of urine on sperm, the fluid in phase, the intake of sodium bicarbonate, or the installation of a buffer in the bladder, which controls the osmolarity or the pH of the urine.
However, IVF or ICSI is recommended in case of reduced production of sperm.
In vitro fertilization (IVF): The doctor may suggest in vitro fertilization to patients when conservative medical treatment methods do not help achieve a healthy pregnancy. The procedure usually begins with the stimulation of the ovaries, which increases egg production.
However, most of the medications used for patients with fertility problems are elements that can stimulate the development of follicles in the ovary. Some examples of these medications include gonadotropin-releasing hormone and gonadotropins.
After stimulation, the doctor then uses a surgical procedure to remove one or more ovaries from the ovary and combine it with the sperm. This is done to produce one or more embryos in a laboratory environment.
The fertilized egg is returned to the woman’s reproductive tract through embryo transfer, although fertilization occurs outside the body.
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI for its acronym in English). This method is ideal in the case of a male infertility condition that results from a low sperm count and in the case fertilization does not occur with IVF.
The ICSI treatment procedure involves injecting a single sperm into the center of the ovum with care using a microneedle.
This method is efficient since it requires that only one sperm deliver the desired results, while more than 50,000 sperm are needed if other procedures are used.
The method is highly recommended for men with low semen volume or ejaculation problems due to the obstruction of the ejaculatory tubes in their testicles. On the other hand, the procedure is also recommended for men with ejaculation problems due to a genetic condition that prevents the release of sperm.
However, such cases require a form of surgical sperm retrieval before ICSI is done.
These surgical sperm retrieval procedures include percutaneous sperm aspiration (PESA), testicular sperm obtained by surgical excision, and epididymal sperm retrieved by microsurgical aspiration.
What are the associated complications?
Early detection of hypospermia helps prevent serious complications, as in most other serious diseases. Early detection allows timely treatment, which can significantly help reduce the main complications associated with hypospermia.
On the other hand, late detection of this condition can cause additional complications for patients. This means that the state is not treated at the right time, which can cause infertility, stress, and other psychological problems.
These psychological problems significantly affect male sexual performance by decreasing sexual desire, libido, and energy.
However, several methods to help men with infertility cause pregnancy, as mentioned above. This is because the sperm can be recovered and used in assisted reproduction.
Prevention for hypospermia
One of the most effective ways to prevent hypospermia is to treat inflammation of the urinary tract in the time since it is the leading cause of obstruction of the ejaculatory duct.
Therefore, it is advisable to work to minimize the infection by using antibiotics each time they are detected. This can significantly help reduce the risk of developing hypospermia.
However, it is essential to keep in mind that there are no specific ways that can be used to prevent ejaculatory or retrograde ejaculatory duct obstruction. Adopting a healthy lifestyle and limiting alcohol consumption, drug abuse, and smoking can be very beneficial in reducing the risk of suffering from hypospermia.
