Sperm selection methods for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in andrological patients

Abstract

Purpose: To improve the chances of successful in vitro fertilization, spermatozoa have to be separated from semen before insemination. Therefore, sperm preparation methods are of great importance.

Methods: To obtain sufficient numbers of spermatozoa from patients with cryptozoospermia or severe OAT syndrome, only Minipercoll centrifugation and migration-sedimentation (MS) are practicable methods. The present study was performed to compare these two methods with regard to sperm concentration, motility, vitality, morphology, and chromatin condensation. The number of spermatozoa obtained after minipercoll was higher than that after MS, but sperm quality in all parameters examined was clearly better after MS than after Minipercoll. In the second stage of this study, the MS method was used for preparation of the spermatozoa for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Results: Over a period of 13 months, 159 cycles were treated by ICSI. Of 1045 aspirated oocytes, 790 were injected. The fertilization rate was 70.4% of injected oocytes (556 oocytes with clearly visible pronuclei). In 146 cases, embryonic transfer was achieved; 58 patients became pregnant (39.7% per transfer and 36.5% per cycle).

Conclusions: Although the abortion rate was very high (18 women lost their embryos), the results demonstrate that the microinjection method can be successfully used in combination with a MS method for preparation of spermatozoa.