Male factor is solely responsible for fertility issues in 20% of couples and contributes to an additional 30-40%.  The semen analysis has been the benchmark of male fertility assessment for many decades, however wide variability in counts, motility and morphology contribute to the enigma of determining who benefits from fertility treatments including intra-uterine insemination and in-vitro fertilization with or without intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection.

More recently, delving in the world of DNA fragmentation has fueled the search for additional sperm quality parameters. Cutting edge questions are emerging including application of microfluidics devices for sperm isolation and epigenetic determinants of sperm quality and impact on offspring.