Fertilization, embryonic development and pregnancy losses with intracytoplasmic sperm injection for...

Prior to the development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), azoospermic and severely oligozoospermic men had little to no chance of having a biological child. In this study, ICSI outcome in 454 transfers with ejaculated spermatozoa and 59 transfers with surgically retrieved spermatozoa were evaluated. Normal fertilization rate using ejaculated spermatozoa was 75% of 5995 oocytes, and 73% of 751 oocytes for surgically retrieved spermatozoa; with ongoing pregnancy rates of 53% (242/454) and 61% (36/59) respectively. Surgically retrieved spermatozoa significantly (P < 0.05) impacted 1PN oocytes (6.1%, 46/751), severely fragmented embryos (8.8%, 46/550) and incidence of pregnancy loss (11%, 4/36). When using ejaculated spermatozoa, incidence of 1PN oocytes, severely fragmented embryos and pregnancy loss was 2.9% (177/5995), 4.5% (200/4365), 2.4% (6/242) respectively.