“Doctor, my semen test has such a high sperm malformation rate, will the child born be malformed too?” “Doctor, such a high malformation rate? What exactly is the cause? Does it matter?” This is the most common question we hear every day at the fertility center. Many people are at their wits’ end when they see the malformation rate, thinking that their sperm quality is very poor and will cause their children to be born with malformations. Is that really the case? Here let me explain to you about deformed sperm. 1. What is deformed spermatozoa? According to the definition in the 5th edition of the WHO Manual of Laboratory Tests and Handling of Human Semen, the percentage of normal spermatozoa greater than or equal to 4% is considered normal, and failure to meet this standard is called aberrant spermatozoa, i.e. the percentage of aberrant spermatozoa in semen exceeds 96%, which is an important clinical indicator of the chance of pregnancy. (The previous 3rd and 4th edition standards were 30% and 15%, respectively, on which the internet entries are based, but in fact these two standards have become obsolete.) 2. What kind of sperm is considered abnormal? The so-called normal sperm usually refers to those sperm with smooth head shape, regular curvature, roughly oval shape, length to width ratio of 1.5, acrosome area accounting for 40%-70% of the head area, the tail may be curved, not bent at an angle, etc. This kind of sperm is called “normal form” sperm, and its chances of conception will be much higher. Deformed sperm refers to morphological variations in the head, body and tail, and can generally be divided into head deformities, body deformities and tail deformities. The common types of deformed sperm are as follows: 3. What is the high rate of deformed sperm? In order to revise the reference range, the World Health Organization adopted the original data of 400 to 1900 semen specimens from 8 countries on 3 continents from men who had recently given birth to a female partner, and finally came up with the following statistics: the percentage of sperm with normal morphology greater than or equal to 4% is considered normal. It is worth mentioning that even in men with normal fertility, often up to 90% of their sperm are deformed. Many patients who come to infertility clinics are terrified when they see sperm deformities of up to 90% or more on their semen test sheets, but this worry is unnecessary, as most of these men’s semen tests have not yet met the criteria for deformed sperm. 4. How do deformed sperm form? So far, the mechanism that causes abnormal sperm morphology is not clear. Generally speaking, most of them may be related to the following causes: 1. reproductive tract infections: such as bacteria, mycoplasma, chlamydia, viruses, etc. may cause an increase in the rate of sperm malformation; 2. physical and chemical factors: abnormalities in the surrounding environment such as air pollution, occupational exposure and living habits can have a negative impact on sperm morphology and motility; 3. certain types of anti-cancer drugs, antibiotics, anti-manic drugs, etc., as well as long-term Exposure to pesticides (insecticides) can affect the development of sperm. 5. Will a high rate of deformed sperm make my baby deformed? There is no evidence to suggest that teratozoospermia can cause fetal malformations. Sperm malformation is mainly a morphological abnormality of the sperm and it generally only affects the chance of successful conception. Studies have shown that during each fertilization, almost all of the sperm that unite to the zona pellucida are normal sperm (sperm only unite with and cross the zona pellucida in order to fuse with the egg cells in the follicle), in other words, it is very difficult for aberrant sperm to make “intimate contact” with the follicle and complete fertilization. In other words, it is very difficult for deformed sperm to make close contact with the follicle and complete fertilization. In this army of sperm, deformed sperm often play the role of “cannon fodder”, and it is the elite of the sperm army – normal sperm – that will complete fertilization. In fact, whether the baby will be deformed, with the mother-to-be before or during pregnancy health conditions or living and working environment, as well as the couple chromosomes and other reasons. 6.How to treat deformed sperm? ①Find out the cause of the disease and treat the cause: for example, if there is an infection in the reproductive tract, medication should be taken for anti-infection treatment; if the surrounding environment is affected, the living or working environment should be changed in time and bad habits should be changed; if certain medications are used, they should be stopped or changed if the condition allows. ②Medication, you can try to use some medication such as vitamin E, C, etc., or appropriate supplementation of zinc, but the effect of medication is not exact and varies from person to person. ③Assisted reproductive technology, choose assisted reproductive technology such as artificial insemination, can improve the chance of pregnancy, our center has many cases of patients with 99% sperm malformation rate through artificial insemination to make the woman successfully pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby. In summary, please don’t worry too much about your sperm malformation rate, I believe you have a preliminary understanding of malformed sperm after reading this article, if you still have questions, please get the report card and go to the male clinic of the reproductive center for consultation, the doctor will give you detailed answers.