Infertility​

A couple who fail to achieve pregnancy after at least 12 months of unprotected sexual intercourse are defined as infertile. Approximately 15% of Italian couples suffer from infertility.

The causes of infertility are numerous and varied in nature. For some of them, the most widespread, it is possible to intervene with timely diagnosis, pharmacological treatments and adequate therapies, but also and, above all, with prevention and information, for others, it is necessary to resort to medically assisted procreation.

About 35% of infertility cases have a male cause. Male infertility recognizes among the causes environmental conditions and lifestyle (including stress), Some working conditions that expose to radiation, toxic substances or microtraumas, exposure to pollutants produced by urban traffic, cigarette smoke. Causes that have a strictly medical relevance are instead all the pathologies capable of altering the structure and function of the testicle or penis (such as, for example, cryptorchidism, hypospadias, pathologies unfortunately on the increase). Testicular cancer, in particular, is both a risk factor in itself and as a result of the chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment used (only 40% recover reproductive function). To overcome the reproductive difficulties faced by men who have to undergo treatment for testicular cancer, it is possible to collect and cryopreserve the sperm cells before interventions or treatments at risk. Finally, a known factor, although not always determining male infertility, is varicocele (enlargement of the veins of the testicle). There are also genetic factors. For example, it has been hypothesized that an alteration on the long arm of the Y chromosome leads to an increased risk of oligozoospermia.