Revolutionary Ultrasound Technology for Male Fertility

For couples dreaming about having a baby, infertility can be heartbreaking. And while a lot of attention focuses on women, men can face fertility challenges as well. Now, a local doctor is helping change how those men are treated using ultrasound technology to find sperm with greater precision and potentially making surgery much less invasive. I spoke with Dr. Taylor Cohn, a urologist with Baylor College of Medicine and Common Spirit St. Luke's Hospital in Sugar Land who helped develop So you came up with an idea and are helping develop unbelievable technology for men. What is this? So for some men who don't have any sperm, what we have to do is this very invasive procedure where we actually cut into the testicle and look for individual sperm. And sometimes we can find that, sometimes we can't. But the problem is we don't know prior to going to the surgery where that sperm is going to be or even if there's sperm going to be there. So we developed a technique using ultrasound to actually be able to map the testicle, be able to identify places where sperm is more or less likely to be. And I want you to show people what an ultrasound wand looks like. I mean, it's just so simple to be able to give you some really big answers. Yeah, so we just do a very quick ultrasound of the scrotum. It takes about two minutes. And then when we do the analysis, it takes about another couple of hours to do and then we're able to give a report. You have some images over here to give us a really good idea of how you can tell if you're able to help a man or not. Yeah, so we kind of regenerate kind of this heat map. And basically, the brighter areas are more likely where sperm is going to be, the darker areas where it's less likely to be. And so this gives us the ability surgically when we're going in to surgery to know where we're going to be looking for the sperm. And it's been very helpful because oftentimes we're finding sperm quicker and more efficiently, and then it's less damage to the testicle. Which is important because a lot of times after this surgery, men may not be able to make their own testosterone and have to go on therapy long term. So less invasive means less long term effects. What a blessing this could be for a couple who really wants to have a baby. What do you think the likelihood is that this will help get a baby for somebody? Yeah, so the- When we're doing these procedures, everyone is very much wanting to have a baby. And for us, any chance that we can give, even if it's a 5% to 10% benefit in trying to help us to find that sperm. We're definitely going to take it. And then you take that sperm, and is it used with IVF then at that point? It is, yes. At that point in time, it's often done in combination with the partner's eggs, and then using IVF and ICSI, you can directly put the sperm into the egg. What process are you in right now as far as getting it closer to becoming available? Yep, so we offer it as part of a clinical trial now, and so we offer it for free of charge for all of our patients, It gives us then the ability to kind of start We'll start to be able to say where and what's likely is that sperm going to be. We're working on moving it towards commercialization so that other places can do it as well. That's a three or four year process of getting approval from the FDA and everything. How does somebody become part of that clinical trial? Yeah, if you just reach out to us here at Baylor, we would kind of screen you for someone who has infertility and is trying to achieve a pregnancy. And we make an appointment, we'd screen you at that point in time to see if you're eligible or if we can help you in other ways as well. But then if it's something that we think would be helpful, we'll get people enrolled in the study. Well, it's such an honor to be able to talk to you, someone with this brilliant idea and watching it come to life, I know has to feel really good for you. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you. Now, Dr. Cohn says this technology has already been used in more than 120 patients with a reported 93% accuracy rate in predicting where sperm is present. He also wants men to know that infertility is nothing to be embarrassed about and that getting help early can truly make a difference. So go on our website, fox26houston.com. Later this morning, I'll have that phone number for you. Again, the ultrasound, because it is in a study, is free right now.