New AI will help men with infertility
Researchers have developed an AI algorithm that quickly and accurately identifies sperm from infertile men.Australian researchers have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm called SpermSearch. It can accurately identify sperm from infertile men in a short time.
The most severe form of infertility, nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA), affects about 1% of men and about 5% of couples seeking treatment for infertility. It is also known as secretory azoospermia and is caused by impaired spermatogenesis, with no obstruction to the movement of germ cells from the testicles through the seminal tract to the urethra.
In other words, NOA is the complete absence of sperm in the ejaculate due to abnormalities and can be caused by genetics, hormonal imbalances, radiation, toxic substances and medications. To become fathers, doctors remove part of a testicle for patients with a NOA, manually extract sperm from there, and use it to fertilize the partner's eggs. Embryologists can take up to six hours to analyze tissue samples and search for and isolate "working" sperm.
Now researchers at the University of Technology of Sydney have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that simplifies the task. It was trained using thousands of microscopic images of sperm cells and a high level of other cells and "debris. That's how the algorithm learned to recognize specifically sperm cells.
The researchers then compared how the AI and the embryologist performed. The results of the experiment showed that the AI detected more sperm cells overall. The embryologist detected 560 sperm cells, while the AI detected 611. The algorithm identified sperm 1,000 times faster and was 5% more accurate than the doctor.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology on June 27, 2023.