Successful Live Birth Outcome Following Assisted Activation of Failed Fertilized Oocytes

Here, we report on a rare case of a live birth following assisted oocyte activation of failed fertilized oocytes. A 34-year-old nulliparous woman presenting at a university-based assisted reproductive technology center with multi-factor infertility underwent an IVF cycle using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) of frozen/thawed testicular sperm aspiration (TESA) sample and preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A). All oocytes displayed failed fertilization at assessment 18 h post-ICSI. Rescue of this cycle was achieved with the use of an assisted oocyte activation (AOA) protocol, whereby oocytes were subjected to AOA with calcium ionophore at 19 h post-ICSI and assessed for blastocyst development. Blastocyst-stage embryos were biopsied for PGT-A analysis with one of the three embryos reporting as genetically normal. This embryo was transferred in a frozen embryo transfer cycle and resulted in a normal pregnancy and term live birth. In conclusion, application of AOA protocols following failed fertilization outcomes can lead to viable, genetically normal embryos capable of resulting in a live birth.