Prognostic value of objective semen parameters in an in vitro fertilization program

Purpose: The basic semen parameters seem to have a limited predictive value in male fertility. Could other objective sperm analyses be helpful in the choice of the most adapted assisted procreation technique?Methods: This study concerns 78 infertile couples with insemination failures. For each semen, 21 objective parameters are analyzed in fresh semen and after sperm selection procedure. The 78 couples are then included in an IVF protocol and classified into two groups: fertile (at least one cleaved embryo is obtained) and infertile.Results: Using multiple variant discriminant factorial analysis, we have found nine nonconventional parameters which induce us to define two classes of semen. These two classes fit with the classification into fertile and infertile groups in 74.4% of the cases.Conclusions: So these parameters allow us to predict the chance of obtaining embryos during an IVF trial and to choose for each couple the most appropriate technique: IVF or ICSI.Key words: acrosome reaction, hyperactivated motility, in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, sperm kinetics