The effects of sperm morphology and motility on the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Abstract

Objective: The outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatments was evaluated and compared with sperm morphology and motility classifications in order to determine whether strict criteria or motility could aid in predicting the ICSI outcome. Patients and Methods: Two-hundred and forty-two of the infertile couples admitted to the clinic, were selected and ICSI treatment was performed. In the study group, female partners were required to have at least 5 oocytes at metaphase II. For male partners only the presence of spermatozoa cells in the semen fluid was necessary. Semen analysis and motility was performed according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria and sperm morphology was assessed according to Kruger's criteria. Results: There was no significant difference for the ICSI outcome assessment parameters indicating that fertilization and pregnancy rates between the groups were based on the percentages of sperms morphology and motility. Conclusion: Sperm morphology and motility were accepted as best parameters to evaluate the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF). However, our results showed that ICSI outcomes were independent from these valuable parameters for IVF.