Automated semen analysis
The analysis of human spermatozoa, in both semen and nonsemen contexts, promises to provide vital information about male reproductive health and fertility. That promise has been incompletely realized in large part because the traditional tools for sperm analysis are subjective, imprecise, inaccurate, and difficult to standardize. In recent years, new tools have been developed to study sperm morphology and motion. Subjective measures from single, unrecorded observations are being replaced by objective measures from stored, digitized sperm images. Computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA) systems couple video technology and sophisticated microcomputers for automated image digitization and processing. They offer both technical and practical advantages over earlier techniques like time- or multiple-exposure photography or cinemicrography. In the future, CASA systems will enable the objective assessment of large numbers of sperm samples in both research and clinical applications, with a speed, precision, and economy heretofore not possible. While CASA technology offers great promise, it is not without problems. Users of CASA need to recognize its limitations and standardize its measures to set the stage for the large-scale studies that will be required to reveal the biological relevance of sperm motion and morphology, and the clinical usefulness of CASA systems.
Duke Scholars
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- Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine
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Published In
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine