Influence of sperm morphology on the outcome of assisted reproductive technique—intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles: A retrospective analysis

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.