Sperm Selection Technology in ART

Author(s):  
Catherine Martin ◽  
Emma Woodland

AbstractIntracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a commonly used in vitro fertilization technique. Selection of sperm for injection is currently done using subjective assessment of morphology, which may not accurately identify the best-quality sperm. Hyaluronic acid receptors on sperm plasma membranes are a marker of maturity, and sperms which are capable of binding immobilized hyaluronic acid in vitro are of higher quality. This can be used as an advanced sperm selection technique to choose sperm for ICSI, termed physiological ICSI (PICSI). Several studies reported improved fertility treatment outcomes when using PICSI compared with conventional ICSI; however, the majority of studies are underpowered. Recently, a large, multicenter, randomized controlled trial, known as the Hyaluronic Acid Binding Sperm Selection (HABSelect) trial, found a significant reduction in miscarriage rates with PICSI, but no significant effect on live birth rate. There are still many avenues through which PICSI may provide an advantage, subject to confirmation by future research, such as improved long-term health of offspring. Other advanced sperm selection techniques include intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection, magnetic-activated cell sorting, and Zeta potential sperm selection; however, the most recent Cochrane review concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence to ascertain whether these techniques improve clinical outcomes, such as live birth rates.

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongying Kuang ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Xiaoke Wu ◽  
Lihui Hou ◽  
Taixiang Wu ◽  
...  

Acupuncture is an alternative therapy to induce ovulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), but there is no study reporting the live birth rate following ovulation induction by acupuncture or its potential as an adjuvant treatment to clomiphene citrate (CC). We assess the efficacy of acupuncture with or without CC in achieving live births among 1000 PCOS women in Mainland China. This paper reports the methodology of an ongoing multicenter randomized controlled trial. The randomization scheme is coordinated through the central mechanism and stratified by the participating sites. Participants will be randomized into one of the four treatment arms: (A) true acupuncture and CC, (B) control acupuncture and CC, (C) true acupuncture and placebo CC, and (D) control acupuncture and placebo CC. To ensure the quality and integrity of the trial we have developed a unique multinational team of investigators and Data and Safety Monitoring Board. Up to the end of April 2013, 326 subjects were recruited. In conclusion, the success of this trial will allow us to evaluate the additional benefit of acupuncture beyond the first line medicine for fertility treatment in PCOS women in an unbiased manner.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S van Wessel ◽  
T Hamerlynck ◽  
V Schutyser ◽  
C Tomassetti ◽  
C Wyns ◽  
...  

Abstract STUDY QUESTIONS Does the application of anti-adhesion gel, compared to no gel, following operative hysteroscopy to treat intrauterine pathology in women wishing to conceive increase the chance of conception leading to live birth? WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) following operative hysteroscopy may impair reproductive success in women of reproductive age. Anti-adhesion barrier gels may decrease the occurrence of IUAs, but the evidence on their effectiveness to improve reproductive outcomes is sparse and of low quality. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This multicentre, parallel group, superiority, blinded and pragmatic randomised controlled trial is being carried out in seven participating centres in Belgium. Recruitment started in April 2019. Women will be randomly allocated to treatment with anti-adhesion gel (intervention group) or no gel (control group). Sterile ultrasound gel will be applied into the vagina as a mock-procedure in both treatment arms. The patient, fertility physician and gynaecologist performing the second-look hysteroscopy are unaware of the allocated treatment. Power analysis, based on a target improvement of 15% in conception leading to live birth using anti-adhesion gel, a power of 85%, a significance level of 5%, and a drop-out rate of 10%, yielded a number of 444 patients to be randomised. The baseline rate of conception leading to live birth in the control group is expected to be 45%. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Women of reproductive age (18–47 years), wishing to conceive (spontaneously or by fertility treatment) and scheduled for operative hysteroscopy to treat intrauterine pathology (endometrial polyps, myomas with uterine cavity deformation, uterine septa, IUAs or retained products of conception) are eligible for recruitment. Women may try to conceive from 3 to 6 weeks after receiving allocated treatment with follow-up ending at 30 weeks after treatment. If the woman fails to conceive within this timeframe, a second-look hysteroscopy will be scheduled within 2–6 weeks to check for IUAs. The primary endpoint is conception leading to live birth, measured at 30 weeks after randomisation. The secondary endpoints are time to conception, clinical pregnancy, miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy rates, measured at 30 weeks after receiving allocated treatment. The long-term follow-up starts when the patient is pregnant and she will be contacted every trimester. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This work is funded by the Belgian Healthcare Knowledge Centre (KCE). The anti-adhesion gel is supplied at no cost by Nordic Pharma and without conditions. Dr. Tomassetti reports grants and non-financial support from Merck SA, non-financial support from Ferring SA, personal fees and non-financial support from Gedeon-Richter, outside the submitted work. None of the other authors have a conflict of interest.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e051058
Author(s):  
Sine Berntsen ◽  
Bugge Nøhr ◽  
Marie Louise Grøndahl ◽  
Morten Rønn Petersen ◽  
Lars Franch Andersen ◽  
...  

IntroductionOver the last decades, the use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has increased, even among patients without male factor infertility. The increase has happened even though there is no evidence to support that ICSI results in higher live birth rates compared with conventional in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in cases with nonmale factor infertility. The lack of robust evidence on an advantage of using ICSI over conventional IVF in these patients is problematic since ICSI is more invasive, complex and requires additional resources, time and effort. Therefore, the primary objective of the IVF versus ICSI (INVICSI) study is to determine whether ICSI is superior to standard IVF in patients without severe male factor infertility. The primary outcome measure is first live birth from fresh and frozen-thawed transfers after one stimulated cycle. Secondary outcomes include fertilisation rate, ongoing pregnancy rate, birth weight and congenital anomalies.Methods and analysisThis is a two-armed, multicentre, randomised, controlled trial. In total, 824 couples/women with infertility without severe male factor will be recruited and allocated randomly into two groups (IVF or ICSI) in a 1:1 ratio. Participants will be randomised in variable block sizes and stratified by trial site and age. The main inclusion criteria are (1) no prior IVF/ICSI treatment, (2) male partner sperm with an expected count of minimum 2 million progressive motile spermatozoa following density gradient purification on the day of oocyte pick up and (3) age of the woman between 18 and 42 years.Ethics and disseminationThe study will be performed in accordance with the ethical principles in the Helsinki Declaration. The study is approved by the Scientific Ethical Committee of the Capital Region of Denmark. Study findings will be presented, irrespectively of results at international conferences and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.Trial registration numberNCT04128904. Pre-results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 1143-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Farr ◽  
Andreas H. Gomoll ◽  
Adam B. Yanke ◽  
Eric J. Strauss ◽  
Katie C. Mowry ◽  
...  

AbstractPlacental-derived tissues are a known source of anti-inflammatory and immune modulating factors. Published pilot data on amniotic suspension allograft (ASA) for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) demonstrated safety and trends for improved pain and function. A multicenter randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy of symptom modulation with ASA compared with saline and hyaluronic acid (HA) in subjects with knee OA. A total of 200 subjects were randomized 1:1:1 to ASA, HA, or saline, with subjects blinded to their allocation. Changes from baseline of patient-reported outcomes (PROs)—EQ-5D-5L, Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), visual analog scale (VAS), Tegner, and Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE)—were compared between groups. Patients reporting unacceptable pain at 3 months were considered treatment failures and withdrawn from the study. Statistical analysis was completed by comparing changes in PROs from baseline to 3 and 6 months for all groups. Comparison of demographics between treatment groups showed no significant differences between groups. Patients reporting unacceptable pain at 3 months in each group were ASA (13.2%), HA (68.8%), and saline (75%). Patients receiving ASA demonstrated significantly greater improvements from baseline for overall pain (VAS), KOOS pain, and KOOS-activities of daily living scores compared with those in the HA group (3 months) and both groups (6 months). ASA patients had significantly greater improvements in KOOS symptom scores compared with HA and saline at 3 and 6 months, respectively. OMERACT-OARSI responder rates for ASA, HA, and saline groups were 69.1, 39.1, and 42.6%, respectively (p = 0.0007). Subjects receiving ASA treatment showed greater improvements in PROs and fewer patients reported unacceptable pain compared with HA and saline. The evidence presented in this Level I Randomized Controlled Trial suggests that ASA injection is an effective treatment for the nonoperative management of symptomatic knee OA.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masao Jinno ◽  
Ryoji Nagai ◽  
Masayoshi Takeuchi ◽  
Aiko Watanabe ◽  
Koji Teruya ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Advanced glycation end-products (AGE), which accumulate with insulin resistance and aging, impair folliculogenesis and may decrease endometrial receptivity. Hishi (Trapa bispinosa Roxb.) extract, a safe herbal medicine, strongly inhibits AGE formation in vitro. We determined whether Hishi lowers AGE and increases live births in older assisted reproductive technology (ART) patients. Methods This prospective randomized open-label controlled trial included 64 patients 38 to 42 years old undergoing ART with or without Hishi extract between June 11, 2015 and July 12, 2019. None had over 2 ART failures, diabetes, uterine anomalies, or exhausted ovarian reserve. After allocation, the Hishi group received Hishi extract (100 mg/day) until late pregnancy or failure. The control group received no extract. Both groups underwent 1 cycle of conventional infertility treatment; 1 long-protocol cycle of ovarian stimulation, oocyte retrieval, in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and fresh embryo transfer (ET); and, if needed, cryopreserved ET until live birth or embryo depletion. Serum AGE were measured before and during ART, as were AGE in follicular fluid (FF). Results Cumulative live birth rate among 32 Hishi patients was 47%, significantly higher than 16% among 31 controls (p<0.01; RR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.4 – 15.0; 1 control dropped out). Live birth rate per ET, including fresh and cryopreserved, was significantly higher with Hishi (28% in 47 ET vs. 10% in 49 ET; p<0.05; RR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.1-10.4). Among variables including age, day-3 FSH, anti-Müllerian hormone, and Hishi, logistic regression identified only Hishi as significantly associated with increased cumulative live birth (p<0.05; OR, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.4 - 18.3). Hishi significantly enhanced oocyte developmental potential, improved endometrial receptivity in natural cycles, and decreased AGE in serum and FF. Larger serum AGE decreases with Hishi were associated with more oocytes becoming day-2 embryos. Conclusions Hishi decreased AGE in serum and FF and improved oocyte developmental potential and endometrial receptivity, increasing live births in older patients. Treatment of infertility by AGE reduction represents a new addition to infertility treatment. Therapeutic trials of Hishi for other AGE-associated diseases might be considered. Trial registration UMIN registration in Japan (UMIN000017758) on June 1, 2015. https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David F Albertini ◽  
PierGiorgio Crosignani ◽  
John Dumoulin ◽  
Johannes L H Evers ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Today IVF use is booming all over the world and has even started to play a role in demographic analyses. Prognosis-adjusted estimates suggest that up to two-thirds of couples could achieve a live birth. However, the scenario is less exciting in reality. Discontinuation during the cycles is common, and age and ovarian response continue to be crucial in modulating this rate of success. A growing interest is now given to the risk of abuses and in particular to overtreatment and to prescriptions of useless, if not harmful, expensive additional treatments (‘add-ons’). A more rational, evidence-based and wise approach is needed. From a scientific perspective, several obscure aspects remain and warrant future investigations. Of particular interest are the neglected role of sperm selection, the potential adult implications of early embryo life in vitro and the issue of sustainability.


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