CAN THE SPERM FERTILIZE THE EGG?
Once the aforementioned tests and surgeries confirm that the man is making sperm and that there are no blockages in the woman’s reproductive tract, the next logical question is, “Are the man’s sperm capable of fertilizing the woman’s eggs?” The ultimate test to answer this question is in vitro fertilization. When the doctor retrieves a woman’s eggs and places them together with her husband’s sperm in a Petri dish, the doctor can actually see whether the sperm successfully penetrates and fertilizes the egg. Short of that, there is no direct measure. Hamster Penetration Test Since there is no easily obtained measure of fertilizing ability, some doctors have tried to get an indirect indicator of the sperm’s ability to fertilize an egg using a Hamster Penetration Test. The idea is that if a man’s sperm can penetrate a hamster’s egg then it probably can penetrate a human egg, as well. There is controversy, however, regarding the value of this test. Some doctors believe the information glean
