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Effect of ICSI on subsequent blastocyst development and pregnancy rates
Lynn M Westphal1, Mary D Hinckley, Barry Behr
1Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, HH333, Stanford, California 94035, USA. lynnw@stanford.edu
Purpose:
To investigate whether ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) results in decreased blastocyst formation and pregnancy compared to IVF (in vitro fertilization).
Methods:
We performed a retrospective analysis of blastocyst transfer (BT) offered routinely to patients under age 40 with > or = three 8-cell embryos on day 3 and compared IVF to ICSI cycles. Sequential media were used with P1 until day 3, then Blastocyst Medium until day 5/6.
Results:
There were 131 IVF and 75 ICSI cycles. There was no difference in age, number of oocytes, zygotes, 8-cell embryos, blastocysts on days 5 and 6, or embryos transferred. Progression to blastocyst was similar (78% for IVF and 73% for ICSI) as was the viable pregnancy rate (51.4% for IVF and 55% for ICSI). No cycles failed to form blastocysts.
Conclusions:
The progression to blastocyst and the likelihood of conceiving a viable pregnancy were unaltered by ICSI. Thus it seems appropriate for programs to offer BT to patients undergoing ICSI using the same inclusion criteria applied to their IVF patients.