ASSESSMENT OF THE CONVENTIONAL CRITERIA OF SEMEN QUALITY BY COMPUTER-ASSISTED IMAGE-ANALYSIS - EVALUATION OF THE HAMILTON-THORN MOTILITY ANALYZER IN THE CONTEXT OF A SERVICE ANDROLOGY LABORATORY

A comparative assessment of the conventional criteria of semen quality (sperm concentration, motility and morphology) was undertaken by stan dard laboratory techniques and by means of a computer-assisted image a nalysis system (the Hamilton - Thorn HTM-S 2030) in an open prospectiv e study, in the context of a service andrology laboratory. A total of 1435 semen samples submitted by couples in the course of routine infer tility investigations were examined by both methods, and the results c ompared. It was observed that the method did not provide comparable da ta on semen quality, either in respect of sperm concentration or grade d motility, while the morphometric data generated by the HTM-S did not appear to be related to conventional morphology assessment. The clini cal value of such systems in the assessment of the classical determina nts of semen quality requires formal assessment in properly conducted large scale prospective studies.