New software for the automatic and semiautomatic assessment of sperm morphology.
OBJECTIVE
An attempt was made to improve the standardization of sperm morphology assessment.


METHODS
A software for computerized automatic/semiautomatic sperm morphology assessment was developed and a comparative study between this computerized system and the subjective micrometric method was carried out.


RESULTS
The software has shown to be very reliable and reproducible. The subjective micrometric method significantly underestimated the percentage of atypical forms compared with the objective method.


CONCLUSIONS
Until the development of new fully-automatic techniques, this system is certainly an effective first step in the objective, reproducible standardization of sperm morphology assessment.
Rossi
T
T
Unit of Andrology, Department of Medical Pathophysiology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
Delfino
M
M
Imbrogno
N
N
Elia
J
J
Centini
S
S
Mazzilli
F
F
D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012984:Software; D013076:Sperm Count; D013077:Sperm Head; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa