Infertility classification

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [2]

Classification

Classification Based Upon The History

Infertility is grouped into two main categories

Primary infertility

It refers to couples who have never been able to conceive.

Secondray infertility

It refers to difficulty conceiving after already having conceived and carried a normal pregnancy. Technically, secondary infertility is not present if there has been a change of partners.

Other Types of Infertility

Combined infertility

• In some cases, both the man and woman may be infertile or sub-fertile, and the couple's infertility arises from the combination of these conditions.
• In other cases, the cause is suspected to be immunological or genetic; it may be that each partner is independently fertile but the couple cannot conceive together without assistance.

Unexplained infertility

In about 15% of cases the infertility investigation will show no abnormalities. In these cases abnormalities are likely to be present but not detected by current methods. Possible problems could be that

• the egg is not released at the optimum time for fertilization,
• that it may not enter the fallopian tube,
• sperm may not be able to reach the egg,
• fertilization may fail to occur,
• transport of the zygote may be disturbed, or
• implantation fails.

It is increasingly recognized that egg quality is of critical importance and women of advanced maternal age have eggs of reduced capacity for normal and successful fertilization.