Еffectiveness and safety of the in vitro fertilization program for HIV infection in men

Abstract

Purpose of the study: to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of IVF/ICSI program for couples with HIV infected men.Research and methods. Prospective clinical study was applied to 169 infertile married couples. The main group of subjects was 94 couples with HIV infected men. The control group included 75 couples with HIV negative status for both partners. In the main group there were carried out 60 treatment IVF/ICSI cycles and 31 frozen protocols, in the control group 86 and 39 cycles respectively. Before the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) was applied to the HIV infected men they were tested for DNA HIV in purified spermatozoa by PCR method. To evaluate the seroconversion in 21 days following the embryo transfer the women were tested for the presence of an antigen/antibodies to the HIV virus.Results. Clinical pregnancy rate [6 (19,4%) and 17 (27%); p=0,41] as well as birth rate [5 (16,1%) and 11 (17,5%); p=0,87] in couples with HIV infected male was comparable to the control group. The testing of semen samples showed no RNA HIV in 100% cases. Evaluation of seroconversion showed absolutely no antibodies to HIV in the women’s blood in 100% cases.Conclusion. Implementation of the IVF/ICSI program for discordant married couples with HIV infected male showed the rate of pregnancy onset which is comparable to the HIV seronegative control. Ejaculate processing of HIV infected male using «double» gradient and swim up is turns to be the measure to prevent horizontal transmission of the virus. This method can be recommended when implementing ART for couples with HIV infected male, both in the case of infertility and according to epidemiological indications.