Prediction of in vitro fertilization outcome by sperm penetration assay with TEST-yolk buffer preincubation.
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.
Soffer
Y
Y
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tel Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine, Assaf Harofe Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.
Golan
A
A
Herman
A
A
Pansky
M
M
Caspi
E
E
Ron-El
R
R
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
D014325:Tromethamine