OUTCOMES OF FROZEN OOCYTE DONOR IN VITRO FERTILIZATION (IVF) CYCLES USING FRESH VERSUS FROZEN SPERM

Abstract

To compare outcomes of frozen oocyte donor IVF cycles with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) when fresh versus frozen sperm is used for insemination. Retrospective cohort study. We identified patients who underwent their first IVF with ICSI cycle using frozen donor oocytes between 2013 and 2019 at Mayo Clinic Rochester. Oocytes were selected from one of two commercial egg banks and either frozen or fresh sperm was used for ICSI. The primary outcome was live birth rate (LBR). Secondary outcomes included fertilization rate (FR), blastocyst development rate (BR), and clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). Patient characteristics, sperm parameters, and outcomes were compared using chi-square tests and two-sample t-tests, as appropriate. A total of 52 patients underwent an embryo transfer following a frozen donor oocyte IVF with ICSI cycle. Seven patients were excluded due to a semen total motile sperm (TMS) count of less than 20 million. Of the included 45 patients, the mean age was 40.5 (SD 6.1). Fresh sperm was used by 26 patients and frozen sperm was used by 19 patients. There were no differences noted between the groups in regards to infertility diagnosis, use of specific egg bank, mean patient age (41.5 vs. 39.7 years), mean partner age at sample collection (39.1 vs. 39.8 years), median semen TMS count (92.1 vs. 101.1 million), or average sperm morphology (9.3% vs. 7.3%). In regards to outcomes, there were no differences observed between frozen versus fresh sperm on the mean FR, mean BR, or CPR (Table 1). Additionally, the difference in the LBR was not statistically significant (52.6% vs. 61.5%, p = 0.55). Although other studies have examined the effects of various male factors on IVF outcomes, this is the first study to examine the impact of using a fresh versus frozen sperm sample in frozen donor oocyte IVF with ICSI cycles. Our study did not find statistically significant differences when fresh versus frozen sperm were used. These results may reassure providers that using a frozen sample will not negatively impact cycle success. However, further study may be warranted with a larger cohort of patients to adjust for additional covariates when comparing outcomes.Table 1Comparison of Outcomes According to Type of Sperm Used for InseminationOutcome measureType of spermTotal (N=45)P†Frozen (N=19)Fresh (N=26)Primary OutcomeLBR (n)52.6% (10)61.5% (16)57.8% (26)0.55Secondary OutcomesFR Mean (SD)77.5% (21.7)82.2% (13.2)80.2% (17.2)0.37BR Mean (SD)55.3% (35.8)49.1% (29.1)51.7% (31.9)0.52CPR (n)57.9% (11)65.4% (17)62.2% (28)0.61†Comparisons between groups were evaluated using the chi-square test for CPR and LBR; the two-sample t-test was used for FR and BR. Open table in a new tab