CAN HYPO-OSMOTIC SWELLING TEST (HOST) IMPROVE PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY PATIENTS WITH NORMAL SEMEN PARAMETERS UNDERGOING ICSI –FROZEN EMBRYO TRANSFER CYCLES?

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the pregnancy outcomes of the couples who underwent Hypo-Osmotıc Swelling Test (HOST)
 as a sperm selection method in Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) – Frozen embryo transfer (ET) cycles and those who did not.
 Methods: ICSI – Frozen ET cycles, employing HOST as a sperm selection method were assigned to the Study Group; whereas those not employing HOST were included in the Control Group. Both study and control groups were divided into two subgroups according to the age of the women; those between the 25-35 years old and those between 36-40. The study and the control group included 509 and 1304 patients; respectively. Patients between 25-40 years old, who received Invitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for the first time, had good quality (grade A) blastocyst embryo on the 5th day, had normal semen parameters and HOST scores of b, c, and d were included in the study.
 Results: Pregnancy outcomes were comparable between cycles using HOST and not using HOST in 25-35 years group. However, cycles employing HOST showed significantly higher pregnancy rate (p = 0.023), clinical pregnancy rate (p = 0.005), and live birth rate (p = 0.045) as compared to cycles not using HOST, in the 36-40 years group.
 Conclusion:With normal semen parameters, the use of HOST in ICSI-Frozen ET cycles does not increase live birth rates in women aged 25-35, while it increases the rate of live births in women aged 36-40.