The role of sperm DNA integrity in couples with recurrent implantation failure following IVF treatment.

Abstract

There is increasing evidence from the literature that indicates the association between impaired sperm DNA integrity and male infertility. However, the data is insufficient regarding recurrent implantation failure (RIF) and sperm DNA damage. This study aimed to investigate the association between sperm DNA fragmentation and RIF cases. Basic semen parameters and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) of men whose partner was suffering from RIF were compared with men whose partner was diagnosed with unexplained infertility (UEI) but had clinical pregnancies following IVF treatment. A retrospective analysis from a large-volume IVF center has been performed, and a total of 197 couples underwent analysis. Two groups were formed, couples with RIF and couples diagnosed with UEI but had clinical pregnancies (controls) following IVF cycles. The mean number of cycles showed significant differences between the groups. However, no statistical difference was observed between RIF and the control group regarding patient characteristics, semen parameters, and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). Also, no statistically significant correlation was found between sperm DFI and clinical pregnancies in the unexplained infertility cohort. Our results show that sperm DNA fragmentation may not be an important contributing factor to RIF cases.