Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 November 1950 — Page 25

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WUNDAY, NOV. 19, 1950

There Is

Failure of Partners to Have Children Doesn't Always Mean Either Is Sterile

‘By GEORGE KEANEY, Times Special Writer OF THE MORE than 26 million persons whom the’

Census Bureau calls “married women, husbands present,” in this country, almost 4 million are childless. Of those,

about two-thirds, or 2,600,000 cou destiny and

raise a family.

ples, want to fulfill their natural

trying to have babies and can’t. To all Appearances,

one member of the couple is sterile —or both are. Tragic as it is that unwilling childlessness hits 10 per cent of all the marriages in the country, there is an even greater tragedy. Between 400,000 and 500,000 of these couples could have babies. They are not sterile. It is just that they are less fertile than other people and that the formula for having a baby, as elusive as fertility is relative, has escaped them. Sterility, of course, has plagued mankind all through history. It has been an offense against the state and grounds for divorcee. It has driven men to murder and women to despair and suicide. It is driving men and women to great unhappiness,

Even now, nothing can be done have ————

Rut the fertility studies gone a long way In recent years tn show that what was formerly accepted as sterility often isn't. In their new book, “Fertility in Marriage,” Dr. Louis Portnoy of the Sterility Clinic, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, and Jules Saltman point out that 10 per cent of the men in cases of childless couples actually are sterile, and beyond immediate help. {There is a small percentage of those in whom the sterility is due to an obstruction which can he relieved by an operation.)

Paradox of Nature

ALMOST every case of-male sterility is due to the failure of the body to produce sperms, the vital part of the seminal fluid which fertilizes the female egg, or to a bodily ‘defect that prevents their appearing in the fluid. But a man need never

suspect that he is sperm deficient. The disorder that may

destroy sperm manufacture has no. effect on the production of the male hormone testosterone, which gives him his masculinity. Thus a man may have superlatively developed masculinity, with all the physical attributes of the male animal, including sex potency, and still have a spermless seminal fluid. Generally all that's required of the male is a test to see if his supply of ‘seeds’ is adequate and if their appearance and behavior are normal. In the. normal ejaculation of a fertile man there are 200 to 500 million sperms. A microscopic examination of his séminal fluid will reveal whether it is average or not. In fact, in a method similar to that used in a blood count, the sperms can be counted. There is no known spermminimum for fertility. (If the fluid is completely spermless the man is-undoubtedly sterile.) Men with relatively law sperm counts have become fathers, and men with high counts have failed to. There may be emotional obstructions to fatherhood In & man with plenty of sperms.

Several Factors IF A MAN'S sperm count is low, his whole medical history will have to he known before

“

* Deliveries made to any part of city. Flawers telegraphed anywhere

BER,

Your a 7X7

about absolute sterility. anything can be done for him.

if it can. The low count may be due to nothing more than a glandular disturbance resulting in excessive fatness. _It might be due to a rundown condition or over-fatigue. Reduction of weight and better nutrition have proved to be a remedy for infertility. Too, excessive use of alcohol may have a bearing. It could result in a generally poor physical condition -and sperm deficiency, About half the men seen in

~fertility clinics are not victims

of azoospermia (complete absence of sperms), according to Dr. Portnoy. The treatment of those who are sterile with hormones has proved disappoint: ing, though hormones from the pituitary gland have had encouraging results in animals. That approach is still a hopeful one and research on it goes on, as does experinientation with vitamins. But in the non-sterile cases, ranging from ‘almost sterile”

to “almost normal,” administration of the thyroid hormone has produced good re-

sults. Not always successful, but more 80 than any other treatment. The hormone stimulates action of the pituitary gland, which stirs the other glands of the endocrine system to action, including the sperm-making ones,

Diet, Surgery Aid Ey ALTHOUGH the thyroid hormone is inexpensive, it should be taken only under medical supervision, as it can be harmful, Dr. Portnoy warns. But, at least, the picture is not all black, except for the completely sterile man who longs for fatherhood. Where the man is merely less fertile than the average there is hope in the correction of constitutional deficiencies by diet or surgery, the administration of thyroid and possibly other hormones and vitamins. And even by control of psychological factors which may be acting as barriers to fatherhood. Fertility is so relative, no one should be concerned about ft,

-the experts say, till at least a

year of effort to conceive has

been unsuccessful. The odds against conception are great, what with. women being able

_achieved, with

Thursday i

November. 23rd

Hope For Many Cou

sos NE.

Between

ples

400,000 arid 500,000 couples in the country who

think they are sterile actually could have children, research shows.

to conceive for only 12 to 24 hours, more or less, out of the 28-day menstrual month, = The whole procedure of conception is so complicated no couple should despair for three or four years. In fact, the despair women suffer may be the emotional pressure that is a factor in their infertility, Where there is absolute sterlity: in a ‘woman, as there can

be, the doctor is still helpless. -

But in many cases what was thought to be sterility isn’t. In almost every case the cause of infertility can be determined in today’s clinics. In many cases the trouble can be corrected. Fertility studies may take considerable time because a month in the treatment, the fertility period being so short, is

like a day. To have a decent

chance at success, studies must involve both partners. And the examination must be so complete as to include even the woman's mouth and teeth in search of a glandular disturb ance or vitamin deficency that might show there.

Hormones Help

AS WITH the husband, the test of the wife will consider ‘such factors as obesity, over-

fatigue and abuse of alcohol. Obesity may be the sign. of a glandular disturbance that is causing irregular menstruation which might, in turn, hamper conception.

Not only successful, but spec-

have been the proper adhormones to proper func-

tacular, results .

ministration of women in whom

tioning of the endocrine glands unreproduc-

resulted in hypothyroidism dervelopment of the

tive organs, menstrual firregularity and fallure of ovulation.

Thyroid, estrogen, progestin, and the pituitary hormones have done wonders to correct

the conditions that were- causing Infertility. Thanks to Dr. I. C. Rubin of Mt. Sinai Hospital, women «who once could not have children because their fallopian tubes became blocked as a result of infection, from adhesions following an operation, or even as an aftermath of a birth, now can, The tubes are tlie passageways from the ovary to the womb through which the female egg and male sperm must move freely to meet

A simple office test in which carbon dioxide is blown through the tubes will tell if tHeyTe blocked. If they are, the same gas passed through the tubes repeatediv -may clear them. Hormones are used for clearance:work, too. And, as a last resort, there's surgery Ovulation Tests THERE'S no concepti with out ovulatioft;y which should

come midwal between the onset of menstrual periods. But conception with irregular ovulation, which ig not uncommon, is difficult, the more irregular the ovulation, the more difficult the conception. One of the big problems in infertility tests is to find. out if the woman ovulates and, if so, when. ! : It can be done now with a simple, if inconveniencing. ex-

amination of the cells in vaginal

smears and by Keeping a record

of the woman's body temperature on awakening, the so-called

basal metabolism chart. Tn fact, DA Portnoy savs. the time of evulation can be determined almost _to the hour. More ‘importan.. © perhaps, to the woman who thinks she's sterile, it can be told if she doesn't ovulate. “And if she doesn't all is not lost. By stimulation of the ovaries with X-ray, or even by administration of hormones, the

-woman-may-be-brought-to-ovu-—

lation. And the road ception mays be opened There may be obstacles to pregnaney in a woman that rerequire surgery. Certain anatomical . abonormalties, while rare. are in this class. Fibroids, which are benign tumors in the womb wall, are not rare, even In young women,

Besides interfering with conception, they may lead to a

menstrual life of pain. Surgery

is the best answer for them, as it is for polyps which are equal-

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This is the third article of a five-part series by George Keaney, prize-winning science reporter, discussing frankly and authoritatively the chief biological problems confronting & woman. Prepared with the close cooperation of the Academy of

— Medicine; they offer solid tes——

timony to support the premise that a woman need not live her life ander a pall of fear because she is a. woman.

ly, or more, conceptionally frustrating. These masses of tissue growing out of the lining of the womb may affect fertility. by blocking off the fallopian tubes,

Common Deterrent BUT WITHOUT surgery won ders can be gone in the interest of conception: - Malposition . of" the womb, which i= quite common, can often be corrected by manipulation. supporting devices and exercise

And infection of the cervix the neck of the womb, a com mon barrier to conception, mav

. . size roaster.

o Easily removed.. bak

be treated without surgery. The cervix, often to blame for “sterility” after the birth of ‘one child or a miscarriage, is highly susceptible to infection.

The infection may result in both a chemical and physical barrier to the egg-fertilizing

sperm,

But infec

“the cervix ents that can out in the doctor's

respond te eat be carried office. ; The Planned Parenthood Federation America has a list of the fertility clinics in the country. It will an conceiving’’ couple to the nearest one or to a

0 refer

fertility special-

fst Fertility clinics report that, of those who come to them and keep up the treatment, 20 to 30

pers cent

I realize their hopes,

The Planned Parenthood Federation found in a survey of 3000 so-called sterility cases

that 20 per cent had babies af-

ter treatme

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