You’ve heard of smart homes. And I bet you own a smart phone. Both great examples of technology for better living. RememberThe Jetsons‘ smart home, complete with conveyor belts and Rosie the robot maid? And who can forget the large “brick” cell phonesof days past, with terrible reception and constantly drained batteries. Well, there’s also a smart technology for male infertility:SMARTmapSM and SMARTretrieveSM.
A True Connection
Cell phones are now so capable that they have become truly mobile workstations. They are also why no one honks anymore in traffic jams: “Ah, might as well get some work done.” Very soon too, homes will be able to figure out who’s walking around inside and automatically adjust the lighting, room temperature and music to suit them. Make no mistake, we are smack in the middle of Tomorrowland.
A Smart Detection
Smart technology for male infertility has been just as revolutionary as that for homes and phones. For men with the severest forms of infertility in which the semen contains no sperm (azoospermia), fine need aspiration (FNA) “Mapping” and FNA map-directed sperm retrievals are more highly evolved than first generation, “blind” sperm retrieval procedures.
I remember the day that I was inspired to develop Sperm Mapping like it was yesterday. I was an assistant professor at UCSF traipsing down to Stanford to do a sperm retrieval on a doctor with cryptozoospermia. He had about 5 ejaculated sperm for IVF-ICSI but they needed more to complete the case and they called me to come to the rescue. I began to biopsy blindly and after several samples, the lab kept announcing: “No sperm Dr Turek, none at all.” I stopped and thought: “There’s got to be a better way.” I mapped the doctor after that and found pockets of sperm in the outer perimeter of the testicle exactly where I hadn’t sampled by biopsy. Boy, did I learn my lesson.
This “smart” system of sperm retrieval, incorporating SMARTMapSM and SMARTRetrieveSM technology, simplifies difficult testicular sperm retrieval procedures, making them less invasive, more streamlined and efficient. Better for the provider and better for the patient.
Phone Home Now
Not only are these techniques now officially codified in the field but also, for the first time, The Turek Clinic is now offering formal instruction and training in them. It’s pretty rigorous stuff, but your provider can now become skilled in the art and science of smart sperm retrieval. Who wouldn’t want to learn something that makes professional life easier, rather than more complex and is a boon to patients? And, by formally training others, I can better ensure that high quality work is done on needy patients throughout the world.
You can argue whether all forms of smart technology are truly smart, but I do agree with whoever said that if we teach today what was taught yesterday, then we are robbing others of tomorrow.
Cross- posted from Turekonmenshealth.com
This is another example of what an amazing time we are living in. The fact that we have now developed a less invasive and more efficient testicular sperm retrieval procedure is a clear sign that even more advances are coming. Dr. Turek’s final statement is particularly intriguing and makes an excellent argument in favor of smart technology and I happen to agree with him completely.