Morphological defects of sperm in patients with normal sperm count

Sperm morphology is an important factor in analyzing male infertility. The assessment of the percentage of spermatozoa having an ideal morphology is done according to the WHO laboratory manual for semen analysis. Aim: To study the morphological defects of sperm with normal sperm counts. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective study. 86 cases with normal sperm count were included in the study. Morphology was analysed on Papanicolaou stained smears. The defects were categorized into: Head defects, neck defect, mid piece defect and tail defects. Results: Sperm morphology defects were found in all cases with normal sperm count. Defects in the head was the commonest followed by mid piece defect and tail defects. The abnormalities ranged from 1-20%. Tapering head (86%) was the most common abnormality in the head, in the mid piece defect, thick mid piece (60.4%) was the commonest and coiled tail (23,2%) was the most common tail abnormality. 82 cases had multiple abnormalities. Combined head and mid piece abnormalities were the most frequently encountered followed by combined head, neck and mid piece defect. Conclusion: Morphological defects of sperm are found even in cases with normal sperm count.