{"id":291143,"date":"2025-11-30T09:09:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291143\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T09:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:09:13","slug":"failure-to-diagnose-treatable-male-infertility-leading-to-unnecessary-ivf-experts-say-fertility-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291143\/","title":{"rendered":"Failure to diagnose treatable male infertility leading to unnecessary IVF, experts say | Fertility problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Couples are needlessly going through IVF because male infertility is under-researched, with the NHS<\/a> too often failing to diagnose treatable causes, leading experts have said.<\/p>\n

Poor understanding among GPs and a lack of specialists and NHS testing means male infertility is often left untreated in couples struggling to conceive, despite men accounting for 50% of all infertility cases.<\/p>\n

Many causes of male infertility are treatable. One of the most common, varicocele \u2013 a dilated vein in the scrotum that increases testicular temperatures, damaging sperm \u2013 can be treated through surgery, while lifestyle adjustments and supplements can also help.<\/p>\n

Vaibhav Modgil, an honorary clinical professor at the University of Manchester, and consultant urological surgeon and andrologist, said there was a lack of awareness of male infertility, which affects between 5% and 10% of men in the UK.<\/p>\n

He said women visiting a doctor after struggling to conceive were often rapidly submitted to \u201cevery test you can think of\u201d, whereas it could take years for men to receive even basic testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the issue has ever gone away or received the attention it\u2019s deserved,\u201d he said, adding that remedying the situation \u201cwill require a top-down approach at a much higher level\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately I can\u2019t see evidence that\u2019s happened yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said most couples struggling to conceive were seen by gynaecologists, who predominantly specialise in women\u2019s health, and that most regions had only one or two dedicated andrologists specialising in men\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Experts said they had hoped the government\u2019s first men\u2019s health strategy, which was published this week, would contain a strategic focus on male infertility similar to Australia\u2019s, but were disappointed by its omission. It is understood a refresh of the women\u2019s health strategy may address male infertility.<\/p>\n

Dr Michael Carroll, a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, said the strategy was a great initiative, but that there was a missed opportunity to consider the toll it took on mental health and how infertile men tended to have shorter lifespans.<\/p>\n

Carroll is writing a book on male infertility to close the awareness gap compared with women, who are typically well-educated on their reproductive health. Many men do not know to keep their testicles cool, avoid tight underwear and taking very hot baths, or how lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, diet, sleep and exercise can cause sperm quality to decline, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, fertility has been seen as a women\u2019s health issue. It was always considered as \u2018the barren woman\u2019 because men think they\u2019re fertile if they\u2019re producing semen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMen should be considered on parity with women. We should do more rigorous testing, more lifestyle and medical history, we should physically examine the testes \u2013 not just give a semen analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raj Mathur, a consultant in reproductive medicine and the former chair of British Fertility Society, said male infertility was under-researched.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a neglect of male fertility issues,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the moment the number of tests for men that are evidence-based is relatively small. We really need more money to research what the appropriate tests for men are through randomised control trials looking at different interventions to see if they actually make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Institute for Health<\/a> and Care Excellence is in the process of updating its guidelines to recommend more testing for men.<\/p>\n

The draft proposals are a \u201cpositive step forward\u201d but do not go far enough, said Tim Shand, the founder of the campaign group Men\u2019s Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters.<\/p>\n

Recent research from Fertility Action found that 80.6% of GPs had received no education on male fertility, and that 97% would not be able to examine accurately for varicocele.<\/p>\n

Shand said there could be a \u201csignificant cost benefit for the NHS in doing a proper and full assessment of men before initiating the standard IVF<\/a> process\u201d, as well as easing the mental health burden on couples.<\/p>\n

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: \u201cFor too long, there has been a reluctance to accept that men suffer specific inequalities and hardships when it comes to their health. This includes male infertility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Men\u2019s Health Strategy sets up a strong foundation for improving how we think and act on men\u2019s health. It is a bold first step, and we will learn and adapt as challenges emerge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Couples are needlessly going through IVF because male infertility is under-researched, with the NHS too often failing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-291143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}