Management of Severe Asthenoteratozoospermia with Traditional Medicine: A Case Study

Abstract

Infertility is a disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. Fertility issues may represent a stressful situation to the couple’s life with important negative psychosocial effects. Ayurveda as a branch of traditional medicine developed a separate specialty for sexual dysfunction, namely Aphrodisiac Therapy (Vajeekarana Chikitsa). It deals with preservation and augmentation of sexual potency and conception of healthy progeny as well as management of defective semen, spermatogenesis along with treatment of seminal related disorders. Sperm quality is affected by various biological and environmental factors. A male patient was diagnosed with asthenoteratozoospermia, which is a combination of two conditions namely, asthenozoospermia (low sperm motility) and teratozoospermia (abnormal sperm morphology). The study patient was treated with ayurvedic medicine (shaman chikitsa) and panchakarma therapy (shodhana chikitsa) for 5 months. After completing the treatment course a semen analysis was performed and improvement was observed in his abnormal condition. The condition changed from severe asthenoteratozoospermia to normozoospermia and finally his wife had conceived successfully.