Case report - Acupuncture treatment for Astenozoospermia

Abstract

Asthenozoospermia is a common cause of human male infertility, which is defined as <40% sperm motility or less than 32% with progressive motility. Motility is the capacity of the sperm to move forward fast and in a straight manner. Low motility may suggest that the sperm may not be able to fertilize the egg in women’s reproductive tract under normal conditions. Factors that can cause poor sperm motility are infections, anti-sperm antibodies, varicoceles, excessive stress, smoking and drinking, and certain genetic abnormalities. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the kidney stores an individual's essence and controls growth, development, and reproduction. Тhe kidney is considered a prenatal source of life, and because of that, recognized as an essential therapy for male infertility, supplementing the kidney is the recommended approach. In this article is presented a case about a 32 years old man with asthenozoospermia diagnosed in October 2022. The semen analysis shows motility with 56%, a low number of progressive sperm cells, i.e. 29%, a lower concentration of 164 M/ml and a higher number of immobile sperm i.e. 44%. He started acupuncture treatments at the end of October and did a total of 9 treatments over a period of two and a half months. in April 2023 he made a new semen analysis with improved results, that is, the motility is 59% and the rapidly linear progressive sperm cells are 32%, also, the sperm concentration increased to 220 M/ml. Acupuncture treatments were done once a week for a duration of 30 minutes. As a part of TCM, acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment in treating asthenozoospermia and male infertility, helping to improve the whole condition of the body, sperm parameters, and the pregnancy rate.

Keywords: acupuncture, TCM, male, fertility, asthenozoospermia