Sperm chromatin structure assay high DNA stainability sperm as a marker of early miscarriage after intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Abstract

To determine whether high DNA stainability (HDS), as assessed by the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), predicts the risk of early miscarriage after invitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI). Retrospective cohort study of consecutive pregnancies after IVF and ICSI treatment. Reproductive medicine center. A total of 1,602 pregnancies after 832 IVF and 770 ICSI treatments. HDS measured using SCSA. Early miscarriage (≤12weeks). The HDS represents the proportion of immature spermatozoa lacking the normal exchange of histone for protamine-complexed DNA, and the outcome parameter was early miscarriage (≤12weeks). For all treatments, the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for early miscarriage was 1.41 (1.07-1.85) if HDS >15% compared with HDS ≤15%. When comparing the two HDS categories, for ICSI, the OR was 1.44 (1.01-2.04) whereas for IVF the results were not statistically significant. There is a small but increased risk of early miscarriage if HDS >15% compared with HDS ≤15%. This increased risk is seen only after ICSI, not after IVF. These findings suggest that HDS can be used as a predictor of an increased risk of miscarriage in ICSI treatments.