Should ICSI be implemented on patients with poor-quality embryos in the previous IVF cycle?

Abstract

Purpose to evaluate whether ICSI can improve the quality of embryo in patients who had their previous IVF cycle cancelled for poor-quality embryo. Methods This retrospective cohort study compared the embryo quality and clinical outcome following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and conventional in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in patients who had their previous IVF cycle cancelled for poor-quality embryo. Results According to the inclusion criteria, a total of 336 ovarian stimulation cycles were performed in the reproductive medical center of Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children Hospital from March 2016 to June 2022. During this period, ICSI and conventional IVF methods were applied in 158 and 178 cycles, respectively. Apart from the number of high-quality embryos, there were no notable differences in patients baseline characteristics and other laboratory results in the two groups. Compared with IVF, ICSI resulted in a significantly higher high-quality embryo rate (6.21% vs. 2.69%, P < 0.05). Among the 226 embryo transfer cycles, there were no notable differences in miscarriage rate and implantation rate in IVF and ICSI group. Moreover, the clinical pregnancy rate was significantly higher in the ICSI group than those in IVF group (56.52% vs. 43.24%, p < 0.05), and implantation rate seemed to increase in the ICSI group (41.58 vs. 34.64%, p > 0.05%); Conclusion The present study suggested that ICSI cannot increase the available embryo number rate in patients without any available embryos after normal fertilization in the previous IVF cycle, however, it can significantly improve the quality of embryo and the clinical pregnancy.