You can see by the sheer numbers of papers here that there is a great deal of research into how sperm DNA damage effects fertility. This is so important because sperm can appear normal under the microscope, but not be able to make a healthy embryo so that miscarriages or other complications occur. To have a sperm sample evaluated for chromatin damage contact Dr. Don Evenson who developed this test (www.SCSAdiagnostics.com). He has a laboratory dedicated solely to this assay and can work with you and your doctor to get the assay done and to interpret the data.

Consider having the SCSA done:
• If you have been trying to conceive for more than one year,
• if you have had two or more miscarriages in a row,
• if your husband smokes, is on antidepressants or has had a vasectomy reversal, • or before you go for assisted reproduction.

You can actually send the sample in yourself. Many women have gone through all kinds of expensive procedures, only to find after a great deal of time and money, that their husband’s sperm chromatin quality was insufficient to support a term pregnancy.

1. Evenson DP, Jost LK, Marshall D, et al. Utility of sperm chromatin structure assay as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in the human fertility clinic. Hum Reprod 1999; 14:1039-1049.
2. Irvine DS, Twigg J, Gordon E, et al. DNA integrity in human spermatozoa: relationship with semen quality. J Androl 2000; 27:33-44.
3. Janny L, Menezo YJR. Evidence for a strong paternal effect on human preimplantation embryo development and blastocyst formation. Mol Reprod Dev 1994; 38:36-42.
4. Spano M, Bonde JP, Hjollund HI, et al. Sperm chromatin damage impairs human fertility. Fertil Steril 2000; 73:43-50.
5. Sun J, Juirisicova A, Casper RF. Detection of deoxyribonucleic acid fragmentation in human sperm: correlation with fertilization in vitro. Biol of Reprod 1997; 56:602-607.
6. Giwercam A, Richthoff J, Hjolland H, Bonde JP, Jepson K, Frohm B, Spano M. Correlation between sperm motility and sperm chromatin structure assay parameters. Fertil Steril 2003; 80: 1404-12
7. Razavi S, Nasr-Esfahani MH, Mardani M, Mafi A, Moghdam A. Effect of human sperm chromatin anomalies on fertilization outcome post-ICSI. Andrologia 2003; 35: 238-43
8. Agarwal A, Said TM. Role of sperm chromatin abnormalities and DNA damage in male infertility. Hum Reprod Update 2003; 9: 331-45
9. De Jonge. The clinical value of sperm nuclear DNA assessment. Hum Fert 2002; 5:51-3.
10. Larson-Cook KL, Brannian JD, Hansen KA et al., Relationship between the outcomes of assisted reproductive techniques and sperm DNA fragmentation… Fert Ster 2003; 80:895-902.
11. Alvarez JG, Sharma RK, Ollero M et al., Increased DNA damage in sperm from leukoctyospermic semen samples… Fert Ster 2002; 78:319-29.
12. Evenson DP, Jost LK, Corzett M et al., Characteristics of human sperm chromatin structure following an episode of influenza and high fever. J Andro 2000; 21:739-46.
13. Saleh RA, Agarwal A, Sharma RK et al., Evaluation of nuclear DNA damage in spermatozoa from infertile men with varicocele. Fert Ster 2003; 80:1431-6.