P-010 Sperm selection by birefringence: a promising non-invasive tool to improve ICSI outcomes

Abstract Study question Could the sperm selection by birefringence improve ICSI outcomes in couples with different infertility factors? Summary answer Sperm selection by birefringence demonstrated a positive clinical impact on ICSI outcomes in couples with different infertility factors when compared to the conventional sperm selection. What is known already Higher sperm DNA fragmentation may affect ICSI outcomes. However, the utilized sperm selection protocols do not allow the evaluation of this parameter. In this sense, the analysis of sperm’s head birefringence has been suggested as an adjuvant of seminal processing in order to select viable sperm for couples with severe male factor. Nevertheless, considering men with normal seminal parameters may also curse with DNA fragmentation, the impact of birefringence on ICSI outcomes of couples with different infertility factors should be investigated. Study design, size, duration Retrospective case-control study. One hundred eighty-one couples who underwent ICSI from January 2018 to August 2020 [107 submitted to sperm selection by conventional analysis (Nonbirefringence group) and 74 whose sperm were selected by conventional analysis associated to sperm head birefringence evaluation (Birefringence group)] were included in the study. Participants/materials, setting, methods Medical records were assessed for eligibility evaluation and data collection. Clinical characteristics (female age, body mass index, infertility factor, seminal parameters) and ICSI outcomes (eg. fertilization rate, cleavage rate, blastulation rate, number of high quality embryos formed, implantation rate, biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate per transfer and per initiated cycle) were compared between the groups using (p