Effects of leucocytospermia on semen parameters and outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Leucocytes are present throughout the male reproductive tract but the clinical significance of leucocytic infiltration in the human ejaculate is controversial. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines leucocytospermia as the presence of peroxidase-positive leucocytes in concentrations of > or =1 x 10(6)/mL of semen. The goals of this study were to clarify the relationship between leucocytospermia and semen parameters including sperm concentration, progressive and total motility before and after semen preparation, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes, including fertilization, embryo development, embryo morphology, cleavage and pregnancy rates. We compared the semen parameters and ICSI outcome of 34 leucocytospermic and 36 non-leucocytospermic control couples who were undergoing ICSI because of male factor infertility including oligo and/or astheno and/or teratozoospermia. Semen parameters including progressive motility rate (1.5% vs. 3%) and sperm concentrations (12 vs. 29 million/mL) were significantly lower in the leucocytospermic group compared with the control group. Other semen parameters were not affected by the presence of leucocytes. ICSI outcome, including fertilization (82% vs. 87%) and embryo development rates (79% vs. 86%) were significantly lower in the leucocytospermic group compared with the control group although there were no statistical difference for embryo quality, embryo cleavage and pregnancy rates. These results indicate that some semen parameters and the outcome of ICSI were negatively affected by the presence of leucocytospermia.