Semen analysis and external quality control schemes for semen analysis need global standardization

TG Cooper, Lars Bjorndahl, J Vreeburg, E Nieschlag

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    75 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    One semen analysis laboratory [the Institute of Reproductive Medicine (IRM), Münster, Germany] was enrolled in three external quality assurance programmes in Europe (United Kingdom External Quality Assurance Scheme, European Academy of Andrology, European Society of Human Reproduction) that control for the assessment of sperm concentration, sperm motility and sperm morphology. Agreement between the participating laboratory and the sperm concentrations designated by all three programmes was good. Disagreement between two quality control (QC) programmes providing motility assessment was particularly noticeable in the distinction between motility grades a and b. For the identification of normal sperm morphology, marked differences between the standards set by different QC programmes were apparent. One programme was stricter in its categorization of normal forms, such that an overestimation of normal forms was diagnosed at IRM, whereas agreement with the other programmes was achieved. Variation of results from technicians in the IRM internal QC programme was
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)306-311
    Number of pages6
    JournalInternational Journal of Andrology
    Volume25
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2002

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