Anyone's DH had a Sperm DNA Integrity Assay?

AppleRidge

This is a shot in the dark, I know, but I'm wondering what others' experiences may have been.  I'm thinking of pushing for one since they found nothing wrong with me in the RPL testing or in the karyotypes.  Here's info:

Sperm DNA Integrity assay (SDIa) -- Results of recent research indicate that sperm quality influences not only rates of fertilization of eggs but also subsequent embryo development. In humans, these paternal effects have been shown to affect rates of embryo cleavage, blastocyst formation and implantation. The markers of sperm quality used to predict pregnancy outcome are not the parameters included in the standard semen analysis (sperm concentration, motility or morphology), but rather the results of the Sperm DNA Integrity assay (SDIa) that measures DNA damage in sperm reported as DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and high DNA staining (HDS).

Scout05

This is in phase two of our testing plan, if the RPL, HSN and karyotypes don't reveal any problems.

AppleRidge

ambrandau2:

This is in phase two of our testing plan, if the RPL, HSN and karyotypes don't reveal any problems.

Oh yeah??  Did they discuss cost/coverage/helpfulness?

rjl07

I never had it, but maybe I should ask the RE about it next time.  Everything has been normal so far for us.  Any idea whether insurance covers something like this?

AppleRidge

rjl07:

I never had it, but maybe I should ask the RE about it next time.  Everything has been normal so far for us.  Any idea whether insurance covers something like this?

I have no idea.  My company told me that as long as it's an RPL diagnosis, stuff would be covered, but I am dubious because I know these are wicked expensive and don't fall within traditional RPL tests.

Scout05

BBHME:

ambrandau2:

This is in phase two of our testing plan, if the RPL, HSN and karyotypes don't reveal any problems.

Oh yeah??  Did they discuss cost/coverage/helpfulness?

It's not covered, so cost is $$$$$$$.

The RE said they rarily do them, because they almost always find the problem (if there is one) before they get to this point. So, if we find nothing on the other tests, we will discuss whether it's worth the cost.

ColindaP

This was one of the tests that me RE did as part of my H's SA. Unfortunately, it once again confirmed that I am the effed up one.

AppleRidge

ColindaP:

This was one of the tests that me RE did as part of my H's SA. Unfortunately, it once again confirmed that I am the effed up one.

Did insurance cover it for you?

ColindaP

BBHME:

ColindaP:

This was one of the tests that me RE did as part of my H's SA. Unfortunately, it once again confirmed that I am the effed up one.

Did insurance cover it for you?

I just realized I wrote "me RE." I's a pirate. Arr, matey.

Anyway, yes my insurance did cover it. My insurance covers all infertility testing, but not treatment. However, the RE warned us beforehand that we probably wouldn't find anything on it. He said just like in real life, the sperm (man) gets 50% of the decision making (BFP or BFN) but really only brings about 1% of the actual goods to the table. or 10%. Or something. But basically that everything really depends on egg quality, not sperm quality. (Except, of course, for azoospermia or rare cases where every single sperm is genetically screwed up)

AppleRidge

ColindaP:

BBHME:

ColindaP:

This was one of the tests that me RE did as part of my H's SA. Unfortunately, it once again confirmed that I am the effed up one.

Did insurance cover it for you?

I just realized I wrote "me RE." I's a pirate. Arr, matey.

Anyway, yes my insurance did cover it. My insurance covers all infertility testing, but not treatment. However, the RE warned us beforehand that we probably wouldn't find anything on it. He said just like in real life, the sperm (man) gets 50% of the decision making (BFP or BFN) but really only brings about 1% of the actual goods to the table. or 10%. Or something. But basically that everything really depends on egg quality, not sperm quality. (Except, of course, for azoospermia or rare cases where every single sperm is genetically screwed up)

Thanks, Matey.  I was hoping getting the test done (or even the fear of getting the test done) might encourage MH to stop smoking and switch his meds, as I've been begging him.

itsmevkb

I replied to your post on Infertility but thought I'd repeat it here in case other posters wanted to know my experience.

My husband has 0% morph and so our RE recommended a DNA fragmentation test (so not sure if that's exactly the same as a sperm DNA integrity assay).  He only does the fragmentation test if the morph is 1% or 0%.  I believe we paid $185.  I remember being surprised that it wasn't more expensive.