title: Prediction of in vitro fertilization outcome by sperm penetration assay with TEST-yolk buffer preincubation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate sperm penetration assay (SPA) value as a screening tool before in vitro fertilization (IVF).
  
  
  METHODS
  Follow-up study comparing sperm variables and IVF outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Infertile couples in an academic research environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred forty-one infertile couples scheduled for IVF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sperm penetrating assay with cold Tes-TRIS (TEST) Yolk buffer semen preincubation and IVF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Percent of egg penetration recoded into poor and good category (0% to 20%, 21% to 100%) and compared with fertilization, embryo transfer, and pregnancy rate (PR) in IVF, as well as sperm count motility and morphology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sperm penetrating assay predicted fertilization with a high negative (74%) and positive (82%) predictive rate and good specificity value (0.96). One of 31 patients in the poor SPA category (3%) fertilized less than 50% of eggs; no pregnancy occurred. In the good SPA category, 87 of 210 patients (41%) fertilized greater than or equal to 50% of eggs with 34.3% PR. Sperm penetrating assay correlated better with fertilization rate than did sperm count and motility but not morphology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sperm penetrating assay is a useful screening assay before IVF together with sperm morphology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tel Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine, Assaf Harofe Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Soffer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pansky
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caspi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ron-El
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004530:Egg Yolk; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D014325:Tromethamine
chemical_list: D014325:Tromethamine