Semen Parameters Are Seriously Affected in Acephalic Spermatozoa Syndrome

Objective: To evaluate the effect of acephalic spermatozoa syndrome on sperm quality in semen with different proportions of headless sperm. Design: Case control study. Setting: Andrology Laboratory. Patient(s): A total of 391 patients with headless sperm and 400 prenatal examination patients with no headless sperm who underwent semen analysis at the andrology laboratory. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): The correlation of the proportion of headless sperm in semen with semen parameters. Result: (s): All semen parameters except the semen volume were negatively (P<0.05) correlated with the proportion of headless sperm in the semen. The semen samples were divided into three groups based on the proportion of headless sperm (PHS) as follows: 0<PHS≤10% (n=249, group A), 1020% (n=71, group C). Nearly all semen parameters were significantly lower in group B and group C than in the control group (P<0.05). However, in group A, only the vitality and motility parameters were lower than those of the control group. Conclusion: (s): Semen samples containing headless sperm tend to have lower semen parameters than samples without headless sperm. Increases in the proportion of headless sperm in semen samples are associated with decreases in semen quality.