ICSI outcome in severely oligoasthenozoospermic patients and its relationship to prewash progressive sperm motility*

doi:10.3906/sag-1005-835 ICSI outcome in severely oligoasthenozoospermic patients and its relationship to prewash progressive sperm motility* Nilgün TURHAN, Aslıhan PEKEL, Aylin AYRIM, Ömer BAYRAK Aim: To investigate the association between prewash progressive sperm motility and pregnancy rate in cases of severely oligoasthenozoospermic patients in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Materials and methods: Th e study included 80 infertile couples who were treated by ICSI due to severe oligoasthenozoospermia (<106). Results were obtained by retrospective analysis of data that are regularly entered into SPSS in our In Vitro Fertilization Unit. Female patients older than 35 years were excluded. Th e patients were divided into 2 groups according to prewash progressive sperm motility. Group I had progressive sperm motility below 10 % (n = 40), and group II had progressive sperm motility equal to or greater than 10 % (n = 40). Th e main outcome measure was the clinical pregnancy rate. Results: Th e patient characteristics were similar in both groups. Th ere were no signifi cant diff erences between the 2 groups in terms of total number of oocytes retrieved, number of mature oocytes, fertilization rate, or the number of transferred embryos. A total of 38 (47.5%) clinical pregnancies were obtained in 80 ICSI treatment cycles. Th e clinical pregnancy rate was signifi cantly higher in group II (62.5 % [25/40] than in group I (32.5 % [13/40]), with P = 0.014. Conclusion: Severe sperm motility impairment results in human infertility, which can be overcome by ICSI. Th e data from this study demonstrated that severe progressive motility defects in cases of severe oligoasthenozoospermia do not prevent fertilization or normal embryo production in ICSI cycles; however, the rate of ICSI success may be infl uenced by progressive sperm motility. Our results show that oligoasthenozoospermic patients with progressive sperm motility above 10 % have better clinical pregnancy results