PURPOSE The objective was to describe the results of the injection of immotile spermatozoa with flexible tails when only immotile spermatozoa are present in the semen sample. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the procedure results for 10 couples who participated in our intracytoplasmic sperm injection program. The sperm tail was considered flexible when it moved up and do...

Sperm chromatin integrity has been being recognized as an important factor in male fertility. During normal fertilization, high quality sperm with intact chromatin are selected through natural selection in journey from vagina to fallopian tube. However, using Assisted Reproductive Techniques, particularly ICSI, the natural selection is bypassed. Therefore sperm with DNA breakage have the opport...

The growing popularity of vasectomy as a primary form of birth control has also created an increasing demand for vasectomy reversal (VR). The advent of IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection after sperm retrieval has given couples an alternative to traditional VR. Although VR remains the most cost-effective and natural way to conceive after vasectomy, competing interests and market pressures...

BACKGROUND We compared retrospectively the pregnancy outcome in two subgroups of ICSI patients, using early division (26 h post injection) to the 2-cell stage as a criterion for embryo quality and viability (ability to produce a pregnancy). METHODS AND RESULTS In the early dividing embryo (EDE) group, at least one of the transferred embryos was early dividing. In the late dividing embryo (LDE...

Total motile count (TMC) is a useful tool for sperm evaluation, comprising both quantitative and motility parameters. Although frequently used, TMC has not yet been evaluated as a contributory variable for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. In this study we evaluate the possible role of TMC as a prognostic parameter in cycles designated for ICSI. We also test the existence of a pos...

A new method is described for the enzymatic preparation of testicular tissue to obtain vital spermatozoa for ICSI. The tissue obtained from both testes by biopsy is studied by means of the semi-thin section method as well as being cryo-preserved. If spermatid formation is assured by semi-thin section histology, vital spermatozoa from the cryo-preserved portion of testicular tissue are enzymatic...

BACKGROUND To determine the differences in sperm quality and results of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles between three groups of male factor infertile couples: oligozoospermic, obstructive azoospermic and non-obstructive azoospermic. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this prospective cohort study, 628 male factor infertile couples who underwent ICSI cycles from April 2004 to March 2006 w...

Purpose Hyaluronic Acid (HA) has a role as “physiologic selector” for spermatozoa prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The objective of this study is to analyze the results achievable by the introduction of a routine HA-ICSI programme. Methods We retrospectively observed 293 couples treated with HA-ICSI versus 86 couples treated with conventional PVP-ICSI (historical control group)...

The aim of this study was to assess the results of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in a large cohort of women older than 39 according to age and to embryo transfer policy. In all, 736 ICSI cycles were analysed retrospectively. In 576 (78.3%) cycles an embryo transfer was carried out. The embryo transfer was defined as non-selective when all the available embryos were transferred, and as...

From 1 October 1991 until 31 December 1993, 1270 cycles for intracytoplasmic sperm injection were performed. Of these, 71 (5.6%) were carried out in women >/=40 years of age. The semen characteristics in couples >/=40 years of age or <40 years were similar. The mean male age for the older group of women was 47.1 years (range 34-67) versus 35 years (25-71) for the younger group of women (P < 0.0...