The outcome of intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): do the sperm concentration and motility matter?

Ai Chen Chua; Abdul Kadir Abdul Karim; Albert Chao Chiet Tan; Muhammad Azrai Abu; Mohd Faizal Ahmad

doi:10.1515/hmbci-2020-0089

Article

The outcome of intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): do the sperm concentration and motility matter?

Ai Chen Chua , Abdul Kadir Abdul Karim , Albert Chao Chiet Tan , Muhammad Azrai Abu and Mohd Faizal Ahmad

Published/Copyright: June 14, 2021

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From the journal Hormone Molecular Biology and Clinical Investigation Volume 42 Issue 4

Abstract

Objectives

The male-factor subfertility was reported to be 30% globally; thus, the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure was implemented to improve the overall in vitro fertilization (IVF) rates. Nevertheless, at least 10% of fertilization failure still occurs. Concerning this issue, we explored the association of sperm concentration and motility with the quality of embryo development and pregnancy outcome in IVF-ICSI cycles.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of 109 couples with male factor were done over 14 months in a tertiary university hospital in Malaysia. The data were divided into four groups; Group I: normal sperm parameters, Group II: normal sperm concentration but reduced total sperm motility, Group III: reduced sperm concentration and motility, Group IV: reduced sperm concentration but normal sperm motility. Only fresh semen samples and fresh embryo transfers were included. The fertilization, cleavage rate, embryo quality and pregnancy outcome were assessed.

Results

Overall, group I had the highest oocytes yield and ICSI attempted; (10.12 + 6.50), whereas the lowest was in group IV; (7.00 + 2.82). Group II revealed the highest fertilization and cleavage rates; (54.14 + 25.36), (55.16 + 26.06), thus not surprisingly resulting in the highest number of good embryos and highest clinical pregnancy rates. The lowest cleavage and pregnancy rates were seen in group IV. However, all the outcomes were not statically significant (p>0.05).

Conclusions

Similar fertilization rate and comparable pregnancy outcome was seen among couples with normal and reduced sperm concentration and motility.

Keywords: embryo quality; fertilization; intracytoplasmic sperm injection; pregnancy; sperm parameters

Corresponding author: Abdul Kadir Abdul Karim, MBBChBAO, MOG, PhD, Advanced Reproductive Centre (ARC), Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur Campus, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, E-mail: abdulkadirabdulkarim@yahoo.com

Acknowledgments

Our team would like to thank all staff in Advanced Reproductive Centre (ARC) at contributed to our study. Special appreciation to “Secretariat Penyelidikan Inovasi (SPI)” Dan University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) Kuala Lumpur, who for helping in ethical clearance and supported the progress of the research.

Research funding: No funding is required in this study.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: The authors do not have any conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Not Applicable – as this is retrospective study and all the data is retrieved using hospital registration number without exposing patient privacy.
Ethical approval: The ethic approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (JEP-2020-459) prior to data collection.

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Received: 2020-12-11

Accepted: 2021-05-08

Published Online: 2021-06-14

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/hmbci-2020-0089

Keywords for this article

embryo quality; fertilization; intracytoplasmic sperm injection; pregnancy; sperm parameters