Influence of Sperm Morphology on the Outcome of Assisted Reproductive Technique—Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Cycles: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of spermatozoa morphology on ICSI cycle outcome parameters in couples with male factor infertility. Design Retrospective study. Setting University-level tertiary care center. Patients and methods One hundred and forty-eight couples with male factor infertility who had undergone intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycle from 2010 to December 2012 were included in this analysis. The semen samples of the male partners were classified according to the three predictive categories of the Tygerberg strict criteria: excellent prognosis (> 14% morphologically normal spermatozoa), good prognosis (5–14%) and poor prognosis (< 5%). Main outcome measures The primary outcome was the embryo quality rate. Results Patients in the poor prognosis subgroups exhibited deficits in spermatozoa concentration, motility and total motile fraction. The variations in the outcome parameters of fertilization rate, embryo development rate and embryo quality did not correlate with sperm morphology. Conclusion Our study suggests that Kruger's strict morphology criteria of the fresh semen sample is not a good predictor for the ICSI cycle outcome. How to cite this article Preetha RP, Kamath MS, Aleyamma TK, Muthukumar K. Influence of Sperm Morphology on the Outcome of Assisted Reproductive Technique-Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Cycles: A Retrospective Analysis. Int J Infertil Fetal Med 2015;6(3):122-127.