A Comparative Study of the Efficacy of Making Seminal Smear for Spermatozoa Detection Using the Conventional Technique and the Proposed Technique

Detection of spermatozoa from seminal stain is a vital piece of evidence in the examination of sexual assault cases, both in the case of a victim as well as a suspect. The conventional method of detection of spermatozoa from seminal stain uses acid, which many times leads to damage to the spermatozoa, resulting in poor detection. To overcome the issue, a new technique is proposed where there is no use of acid in the extraction of the sample from the seminal stain and subsequent preparation of the slides for microscopic examination. In the present study, both conventional and proposed techniques are compared in terms of the detection rate of spermatozoa and also microscopy scoring. It was found that the rate of detection of spermatozoa was far better in the proposed technique. In 80.4% slides, intact spermatozoa were detected with the proposed technique, whereas with the conventional technique, no intact spermatozoa were detected in any of the slides. The microscopy scoring was also found to be high in proposed technique compared to conventional technique.