Commentary on the article 'ten years' experience with an external quality control program for semen analysis'

摘要

The article by Mallidis et al. on an external quality control program for semen analysis in Germany is important, and they must be congratulated on their efforts (1). They highlighted specific problems in the performance of the basic semen analysis within laboratories and the low adherence to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. This article and the findings can be extrapolated to many if not all countries worldwide. As mentioned in the introduction of the article, the recently released WHO manual (2) offers detailed advice on every aspect of semen analysis. The importance of quality control was highlighted in both the fourth and fifth editions of the WHO manuals (2, 3). The question can then be asked, why the low adherence of laboratories to the important principles of semen analysis outlined by experts in the field?