Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of spermatozoa cryopreservation and to compare the clinical pregnancy outcomes in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using fresh versus cryopreserved spermatozoa collected by testicular sperm aspiration (TESA).
Methods: A retrospective study was performed to compare the outcomes of men who accepted frozen-spermatozoa-based TESA-ICSI with those of men who underwent TESA-ICSI using fresh spermatozoa between January 1, 2015, and December 30, 2016. The groups were matched for age. The rates of fertilization, good-quality embryos, blastocyst formation, and clinical pregnancy outcomes were obtained from clinical records and were compared between the groups.
Results: There were no significant differences between the frozen TESA group (n=79) and the fresh TESA group (n=194) in the rates of fertilization (71.4% vs 73.4%), good-quality embryos (55.3% vs 54.5%), blastocyst formation (60.9% vs 60.1%), clinical pregnancy (61.7% vs 55.1%), and live delivery (51.1% vs 45.7%) (P>0.05 for all comparisons).
Conclusion: Freezing low-count sperm collected by TESA with a cryoprotectant was an efficient method in the treatment of male factor infertility.
Keywords: Assisted reproductive technology; Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); Low sperm count; Pregnancy; Spermatozoa cryopreservation; Testicular sperm aspiration (TESA).
© 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.