Clinical Outcome of Sorting and Recovery of Ultrasmall Amounts of Live Sperm Stimulated with Pentoxifylline Followed by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Abstract

In cases of testicular sperm extraction sperm aspiration and severe oligozoospermia for which intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is indicated, there are cases where motile sperm are difficult to obtain even from collected semen. In cases when little or no motile sperm is obtainable from prepared sperm suspension. We stimulated sperm motility using pentoxifylline and then selected live sperm. The clinical outcomes of recovery of live sperm were compared with cases in which motile sperm was obtainable. Fertilization and embryo recovery rates of the pentoxifylline group were significantly lower than those of the control group. However, the pregnancy, implantation, and abortion rates of the pentoxifylline group were not significantly different from those of the control group, suggesting a favorable outcome if a viable embryo is implanted. Moreover, no abnormal findings were found in babies subsequently born. Considering that the important point of ICSI is to inject live sperm, pentoxifylline treatment was effective in cases where sperm sorting was difficult.