(STUDY FINDS) – Tracking down the issues contributing to male infertility may get a whole lot easier soon. Researchers have presented a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s capable of finding viable sperm within severely infertile men in seconds. Applying the AI algorithm could give hope to men who want a biological child but have no success in conceiving naturally.
The current process normally takes six hours to find and isolate sperm from human tissue. It involves undergoing a procedure where a portion of their testes is removed. Embryologists then take out sperm manually from this sample to fertilize their partner’s eggs through intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment.
The long hours it takes to extract sperm can play a role in successfully identifying viable samples as embryologists might experience mental and physical fatigue. Embryologists need to shred tissue samples and tease them apart with fine needles. Any sperm available is then placed into a special liquid in a petri dish. Using a microscope, the clinician searches through droplets of the liquid to examine the sperm. However, contamination from other particles and cells can make it possible for an embryologist to miss a sperm. Additionally, the longer the process takes, the greater the chance the sperm is no longer usable.
