The outcome of clinical pregnancies following intracytoplasmic sperm injection is not affected by semen quality

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) on pregnancy outcome. For this purpose 279 consecutive intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles were retrospectively evaluated and compared to 436 consecutive IVF cycles performed during the same time frame. Group A (n=62) included ICSI patients with severe OAT; group B (n=217) included patients who underwent ICSI for other indications; and group C (n = 436) included couples who underwent standard IVF. The mean age of female patients and mean number of embryos transferred were comparable in all groups. No difference was observed regarding implantation, clinical pregnancy, delivery and miscarriage rates between all three groups, but fertilization rate was significantly lower in group A than in groups B and C. It is concluded that couples undergoing ICSI with severe male infertility (OAT) have a slightly reduced fertilization rate but their chances of delivery and pregnancy loss are similar to those of other patients undergoing clinical ICSI and IVF with non-male infertility.