Retrograde Ejaculation
This is one condition that few people have heard about. This is where sperm is ejaculated into the bladder instead of out through the penis. It is caused by a malformation of the urethra. In a healthy man, the valves between the urethra and the bladder would constrict during orgasm to prevent urine from seeping into the ejaculate and to prevent sperm from entering the bladder.
In a man with retrograde ejaculation, these valves are faulty and do not prevent these processes from happening. This is why it is possible to find sperm in the urine samples of men with this condition.
Urine can kill sperm because it is so acidic, so it may render the samples he does produce useless at making a baby. Most people with this condition do not have any ejaculate leaving the body by the normal route so it cannot be harvested for IVF in the usual way.
What Causes Retrograde Ejaculation?
There are a number of possible causes, including previous prostate surgery, other operations involving the pelvic and genital areas, previous cancers and some drugs which are used to control heart disease and high blood pressure, may trigger this condition. Rarely, there may be a congenital abnormality.
Will We Have To Have IVF?
Not necessarily. Depending on the severity of the condition, it may be possible to have surgery to correct the problem, by tightening up the bladder opening to prevent sperm from entering, and thus forcing it forwards and out of the body through the penis. If you are a good candidate for this operation and it is successful, you should be able to father children without further assistance.
The Other Options
If the urine is killing off the sperm, you can take sodium bicarbonate tablets which will reduce urine acidity and allow the sperm to live. They can then be harvested when you provide a urine sample, to be used for IVF.
Or you could have a catheter fitted to fill the bladder with a solution and after you ejaculate, the catheter would be removed and the sperm collected.
Common methods of assisted conception for men with this condition are: standard in vitro fertilisation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI - which is usually done when there are only a few sperm available, and is when a single sperm is injected directly into the egg), and zygote intra fallopian transfer. This is when the egg is fertilised and the developing embryo is inserted into the fallopian tubes via a needle passed through the abdomen. The embryo should then travel to the womb and implant, to grow into a baby.
Joanna Karpasea-Jones - I have been a health writer since 1997 when I published my own newsletter, SHOTS. I have written 2 books on childhood health, and write ...
