title: Oocyte degeneration after intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a multivariate analysis to assess its importance as a laboratory or clinical marker.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Oocyte degeneration has historically been associated with the intracytoplasmic (ICSI) technique. We sought to determine whether oocyte degeneration rates were associated with the technician performing the procedure, the baseline characteristics of the patient, and/or ovarian stimulation variables. We also evaluated whether the degeneration rate could serve as a surrogate marker for implantation potential.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Academic medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Couples undergoing ICSI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six thousand six hundred fifty-three injected oocytes were analyzed to determine whether the degeneration rate was technician dependent. Two hundred thirty first-entry down-regulated cycles were examined to identify predictors associated with oocyte degeneration. Multivariate analyses were performed using generalized linear model routines.
  
  
  METHODS
  Oocyte degeneration rates and implantation rates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neither the ICSI technician nor the stripping technician was associated with the oocyte degeneration rate. However, the day 3 FSH, number of mature oocytes retrieved, and E2 levels on the day of hCG were significant independent predictors of degeneration rate. Physician-adjustable ovarian stimulation variables were not associated with the degeneration rate. The degeneration rate did not appear to be associated with the implantation rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that oocyte degeneration is not technician or physician dependent. Degeneration is likely a function of the inherent oocyte quality in women who underwent ovarian stimulation. However, the remaining cohort of retrieved oocytes appears to be unaffected by virtue of an uncompromised implantation rate.
authors: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
authors: Mitchell P
authors: MP
authors: Rosen
authors: Shehua
authors: S
authors: Shen
authors: Anthony T
authors: AT
authors: Dobson
authors: Victor Y
authors: VY
authors: Fujimoto
authors: Charles E
authors: CE
authors: McCulloch
authors: Marcelle I
authors: MI
authors: Cedars