[Indications and clinical outcomes of half-ICSI in 99 cases].
OBJECTIVE
To determine an optimal insemination technique for patients suspected of high risk of fertilization failure and undergoing assisted reproduction treatment.


METHODS
Ninety-nine couples were treated by conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in one cycle (half-ICSI) by dividing the sibling oocytes in halves. The clinical and laboratory data were analyzed, and the rates of fertilization, cleavage, good embryos and clinical pregnancy were compared between different fertilization methods.


RESULTS
In the half-ICSI group, the fertilization rate of ICSI (80.5%) was significantly higher than that of IVF (42.9%) (P < 0.01), and so were the rates of complete fertilization failure (21.2%) and low fertilization (16.2%) of IVF than those of ICSI (0 and 3.0%). No significant differences were observed in the rates of cleavage and good-quality embryos between the two groups (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
ICSI can help to avoid complete fertilization failure, achieve more high quality embryos for transfer and improve the rate of pregnancy for patients with high risk of fertilization failure.
Wang
Ya-qin
YQ
Reproductive Medical Center, Ren Min Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430060, China. wangyaqin@yahoo.com.cn
Yang
Jing
J
Xu
Wang-ming
WM
D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000379:methods*